Solangelo - Life and death
by BeeHope
Summary: Surely after all the demigods have been through, they all deserve a break? According to the fates, apparently not. This story follows the adventures of Nico di Angelo and Will Solace as they set off on a quest to achieve the impossible and to restore their world to the way it should be. Meeting old enemies along the way, will put the team through their biggest challenge yet.
1. 1 - Nico

**A/N: Hey I'm Pheebs. Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoy it and all that schist. I just wanted to say I've just started Uni, so I'll try my best with updates but sorry in advance if I leave for a while. Also I haven't written a fanfiction in quite a while now so I might be a tad rusty. But hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway. Ps I don't own any of the characters or scenes mentioned in this story, all rights go to Rick Riordan.**

 **Chapter** **1 - Three days in Hell (otherwise known as the infirmary)**

 **Nico's POV**

For the first time in years, Nico felt liberated. He had just come out to his old crush and had watched in amusement as his jaw had smacked the floor in shock. Despite his elation, a feeling of foreboding and dread quickly settled over his soul, like a dark storm cloud stifling the sun's rays on a summers day. He had no doubt that his sexuality preference would rapidly spread around camp after his less than discreet confession to Percy and Annabeth.

An icy shiver rolled down his spine as he predicted the reactions from the campers, not fully realising that he was walking back across the green until he bumped into none other than the head councilor of the Apollo cabin, Will Solace.

"Woah there Death boy, I know you're mad about going to the infirmary but that doesn't mean you can get revenge by knocking me over!" Will steadied Nico and gave him a slightly suprised and bemused look, his sky blue eyes startling Nico from his brooding thoughts.

"Uh sorry Will, I got lost in thought."

Will studied Nico with a hint of curiosity, his blond eyebrows pulling together into a small frown. Nico had to resist the strong urge to reach up and wipe it away with his fingers.

Wait what the...

"Well come on then Death boy, the infirmary awaits for your dazzling presence." Will said smirking, dipping his head in a bow whilst giving a small flourish of his arms, looking like he was beckoning Nico before him.

"You're a dork Solace and don't call me Death boy." Nico said the last part with what he thought was an intimidating glare, but Will was clearly unimpressed as he waltzed towards the infirmary with Nico reluctantly in tow.

By the time they reached the infirmary, Nico was about ready to collapse. He hadn't walked this far in days. His steps became smaller and his stride slowed to the pace of a zombie. Will seemed to notice Nico's growing fatigue, as he dropped his pace to match Nico's and placed his arm around Nico's shoulders for support. A wave of adrenaline rushed through him, sending a flutter through the skeletal butterflies in Nico's stomach. No matter how much Nico wanted to shirk away from the awkward situation, his weak state prevented him from doing so (A/N: Yeah yeah, whatever Nico ) and so he gave in to the embrace and leaned in towards Will.

The infirmary was a lot larger than Nico remembered, the building attached to the back of the Big house looking similar in shape and size to the cabins but distinctly cleaner, lacking the aroma of dirty week old socks and food wrappers. He could already smell the disinfectant. As they trudged towards the doors, a wave of fatigue and dizziness crashed into Nico, causing his legs to momentarily buckle and the world to spin so that the sky was sideways. He would have crashed to the ground if Will hadn't tightened his grip around Nico's shoulders, hoisting him back up. Nico grimaced as spikes of pain ran from his shoulder down his arm from the werewolf scratches.

"Hey death boy, none of that! You're not collapsing on my watch!" Will started to rant about how he should have come sooner and comparing Nico's stupidity to the minotaur along with other insults that Nico assumed were medical related, whilst half dragging him into the infirmary. Nico was sort of out of it at this point, but he was aware that they were walking down a long, white corridor and into a small room with a simple white bed with a pair of white patterned hospital pyjamas laid out on it. Will set Nico gently onto the bed and then transitioned into full on Doctor mode.

"So Nico, you're here to regain strength after physical overexertion and also overexertion of your powers. I'll keep a close eye on you in these three days and the following days after your release to monitor your progress. At no point are you allowed to use any Underworldy powers until I give the all clear, Doctor's orders." Will added with a smirk at the end. Nico's heart fluttered at the thought of seeing Will so much and would have smiled if Will's next words hadn't shocked him so much.

"Now strip down di Angelo, clothes off." Nico stared at him for a few seconds, mouth agape and a blush rising on his cheeks before stuttering a shocked.

"W-why?" Will appeared to be mentally face palming.

"Because, death boy, I need to give you a check over and see what's wrong with your shoulder. Don't give me that look, I saw you grimace earlier when you fell."

Nico muttered a few choice words in Italian about where will could shove his check up, before reluctantly pulling his shirt off, hesitating as his shoulder burned when he moved the shirt off.

"That's nasty." Were Solace's first words on Nico's condition.

"Thank you Doctor, for your exceptional medical analysis" Nico muttered sarcastically. Will face breifly morphed from his previous serious expression, shooting him a small smirk and sticking his tongue out before reverting to his neutral expression and beginning to prod the cuts. Nico hissed in pain and Will quickly withdrew with a concerned look.

"Nico, how long have you had these?" Will questioned, although he seemed to already know the answer. Nico mumbled the story of Lycaon and how Reyna had hastily stitched his wounds so they could carry on with the quest. He was ashamed to admit that he shrunk down on the bed, predicting an outburst from an angry son of Apollo. Will surprised him and instead muttered a slow "Ok", the word having a slight southern accent as Will's brow furrowed. His accent set off Nico's butterflies again.Dam things, Nico thought bittterly as yet another blush started to form on his cheeks. Will must think Nico has a temperature or something.

"I'll need to heal your scratches immediately to avoid or remove any infection and then we'll see if this helps improve your recovery at all."

"That's cool with me." Nico almost slurred, as the pain and fatigue smothered him, making his vision blur. It may have been his tiredness playing tricks on him, but Nico swore he saw a look of worry and dread flash over Will's face. Before Nico could quiz him on this, Will muttered,

"Here goes nothing."


	2. 2 - Will

**Chapter 2 - Will finds Solace**

 **Will's POV**

Moments like this really made Will question his career path. Why would anyone willingly jeopardise their own health for another. Suck it up Solace, Nico needs you. Will exhaled shakily before hovering his right hand over Nico's shoulder whilst grabbing that hand to restrain him (or at least that was Will's excuse). Will took a deep breath and began to sing a prayer to his father. Will had to admit, singing was not his specialty, but whilst his voice was not beautiful like his siblings, he could still just about hold a tune. Nico had his eyes squeezed shut in pain (whether that was from his wound or from Will's singing, who knows) as Will's hand began to glow faintly golden, the rays of light lengthening from his fingertips as the song progressed, reaching out to Nico's shoulder. The light entered the cut and Nico and Will simultaneously gasped in pain, as the healer experienced Nico's pain along with all of the other injuries he had healed in the same day. Stab wounds, burns, broken bones, collapsed lungs, the list was endless really. Will's song faltered slightly as the pain rolled through him and built in a crescendo, but he strived through the haze, determined to heal up the cuts fully. The cuts were almost closed as Will began to tremble and black spots danced across his vision, partially blocking out the panting son of Hades in front of him. Will's brain decided this was a great moment to wonder if he was going into shock and if he would then experience circulatory failure, but he focused his ADHD brain back on the task at hand. Will finally finished singing as the last cut closed and promptly sagged backwards, regretting his lack of foresight to grab a chair before starting. As though listening through static radio, Will could hear Nico shout his name as he collapsed to the floor, his vision tunnelling and fading as he blacked out.

A/N:Knock out!! Ding Ding*

Being unconscious sucked. Will felt as though he was trapped in the darkness, his thoughts muffled and confused as he floated in the black ink. He tried to think, tried to reason what was happening and why his body was searing in pain (especially his shoulder), but his mind was not cooperating. Will had no idea how much time passed while he was like this, but he soon felt himself being dragged back to wakefulness by a voice. A familiar voice, pulling him up through the dark void towards the light. The voice called out again, calling his name frantically and spouting off some rapid fire Italian before shaking his shoulders.

Will slowly opened his eyes, his vision doubling and swimming before him before settling to show Nico di Angelo hovering right above him, staring at him with concern and another unreadable emotion.

"Wha-" Was all Will managed to croak out, his voice not fully responding to his brain. He looked at Nico in confusion and noted how his black hair hung straight down towards Will, almost touching his face, his dark onyx eyes revealed. Will could get lost in those eyes.

"Will? Hello? Are you ok?" Will's mind snapped back to the present and he collected his thoughts before answering Nico.

"Sorry Ghostie, that happens sometimes. Wow I really must be tired, I haven't felt like this since training back when I was 9." Will tried to joke lamely. Nico didn't seem to buy it, but he smiled at Will anyway, the corner of his mouth pulling up slightly. Gods that smile, what no! Shut up brain!

Will attempted to sit up, propping his elbows at his sides and hoisting himself up (ignoring the spin of dizziness threatening to send him back to the floor). He was almost sitting upright when the world suddenly decided to tilt sideways and the floor was rushed towards him.

"Woah sunshine, no need to face plant the floor." Will's heart leapt out of his chest at the new nickname and his heart raced into a state of trachycardia, Adrenaline coursing through his body and making his toes tingle. In reflection that was probably an aftereffect of Will overusing his powers, but oh well. Nico placed his arms under Will's and hoisted him from the floor onto the bedside chair. Nico initially went to set him on his own recovery bed, but Will started protesting how Nico was in here to recover, not him and after a sigh and some curses, he unceremoniously dumped him in the chair, claiming he weighed more than Mrs O'leary.

Will closed his eyes for a second as he sat back in the chair, trying to orient himself. When he reopened his eyes, he found Nico sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him strangely.

"What?" He felt slightly defensive about the look Nico was giving him.

"Will what happened? I know you said you were tired and I get that, you must have healed hundreds of campers in the last few days. But when you were healing me, I could... I don't know... Sense something was wrong. Like you were in pain." Nico looked at Will almost accusing but again with an unreadable expression that Will couldn't crack, what was going on. Will debated lying, but decided he was too out of it to try and come up with a reasonable answer, so he settled on the truth.

"When I heal people, I experience the pain that the patient is feeling. Sometimes not as bad, but other times its ten-fold what the other is feeling. I'm not sure, but I think that was a build up of the healing I've been doing over the last few days, or maybe I underestimated the severity of the cuts." Will looked up from his jeans to see Nico's usual poker face, with a hint of concern masking his features.

"Some healer I am." Will snorted. "I pass out and then my patient looks after me." Will gave a dry chuckle before he felt a pressure on his leg, he looked to see Nico had placed his hand on his thigh. A thrill of heat rolled through Will as he looked up at Nico.

"Hey, don't you dare say that Will, you're the best healer this camp has and probably has ever had, which is why this happened in the first place. You exhausted yourself after you've healed hundreds of demigods in the past few days with no sleep and virtually no breaks. So don't bother saying stupid stuff like that or I'll have to raise some skeletons to chase you around until you see sense."

Nico drew back his hand with a slight blush on his pale cheeks and Will noticed that Nico had used his injured arm, except it wasn't injured anymore. Will felt a small smile grace his face and a warm feeling rising in his chest.

"Not now you won't di Angelo. You're on strict bed-rest and not allowed to use underworlds powers until further notice, Doctor's-"

"Orders, yeah I get it Solace."

Nodding in triumph, Will quickly gave Nico a once over noting how the wounds had completely healed but he still looked deathly pale. But, was it Will's imagination, or did he look healthier? Will grinned at Nico before rising from his chair, unsteady for a few seconds until he found his feet.

"I'm just going to head and grab some ambrosia quick, I'll be back in a minute. You, will rest while I'm gone" Will said before walking gracefully straight into the doorframe on the way out with a loud Thunk. As he walked away from Nico's room, he swore he could hear him attempting to stifle a laugh.


	3. 3 - Nico

**Chapter 3 - Caves everywhere!**

 **Nico's POV**

The rest of the day passed in a bored blur for Nico. He mostly spent his time eating small amounts of food. Mostly to entertain himself, but partly, to help regain his appetite after his time spent in the bronze jar. Nico never wanted to see another pomegranate in his life.

As the day wore on, the traffic in the infirmary begun to die down, the stream of injured patients slowing

as campers finished maiming each other. The Apollo kids had started to loose steam as their shift wore on. When it came to pass over time at 7, they were shuffling around with vacant looks on their faces, reminding Nico of the ghosts in the fields of Asphodel. Nico had watched as Will had attempted to protest, saying how he was head healer and the patients needed him. His siblings (Austin and Kayla he thought their names were), shared a look as if having a mental discussion, before practically dragging him from the room, ignoring his indignant retorts and his weak attempts to get free. Nico watched the exchange with a feeling of what he could only describe as sadness, as the guy who had provided Nico with food all day, along with some eye-candy (who said that!?), was taken back to his cabin. Nico hoped Will was feeling better now. When he had seen him earlier, he looked washed out and almost drained of life, his usually tan skin looking bleached, but Will carried on bustling around the beds in the ward, checking monitors, answering patient's calls and giving the other Apollo kids instructions and orders on how to treat the harder cases. Nico found himself begrudgingly admiring the healer's dedication and stubbornness.

As the night dragged on, Nico began to feel his eyes dropping despite his adversion to falling asleep. One of the Apollo campers who came to check on Nico seemed to notice his drowsiness after Nico answered the question; how are you feeling, with "hmmm yea" whilst staring at the wall slightly cross eyed. The healer proceeded to dim the room's lights on the way out, pulling the door to. Nico was out before you could say "Hedge's underpants".

Nico was falling. His hair whipping his face, his arms and legs being sucked downwards and a plunging feeling in his gut like they were threatening to turn inside out. He couldn't breathe, his air coming in short puffs of forced air as he realised what was happening. The giveaway for Nico was the opaque shadows smothering him. No light, no ceiling, no walls, and no way out. Nico was falling into Tartarus, again. Hours passed as Nico tried his best to get himself out of this mess. Let's just say that shadow-travelling whilst free-falling was not his smartest idea. Nico was close to defeat, his eyes stung with tears that were unable to fall, trapped by the G-force. The ground raced towards him, monsters plaguing the boil ridden surface, roaming around and occasionally killing one another, he couldn't bare it , he shut his eyes tight ready for the impact. But Nico never hit the ground. He went from falling to his death to suddenly standing upright on a spongey, almost trampoline like surface.

The transition from plunging to his death to standing made Nico feel nauseous, as his body struggled to catch up with his position. When his heart has calmed down (marginally), Nico opened his eyes and gazed at his surroundings, not in awe, but in disgust. He was standing on what appeared to be a giant muscle that was easily the size of camp Jupiter. Monsters leered at him, sizing him up and debating if they should waste their time on a puny goth demigod, before getting distracted once more, continuing to attack each other. Nico harnessed the shadows to cloak him hoping to mask his presence from the pack of Telkhines yipping hungrily as he passed. He trudged across the slimy ground, looking in vain for any sign of an exit, his hopes plummeting by the second. His breathing became ragged and short as the toxic fumes permeated through Nico's lungs, burning every time he tried to inhale. Voices swarmed his head, snaking around his subconscious and whispering things Nico knew to be true but refused to acknowledge. He couldn't take much more of this. No mortal should be down here.

Nico had thought that falling into Tartarus was pretty rotten luck, but the fates had obviously not taken pity on him today. He had managed to accidently stumble into the Goddess of Misery, Akhyls. Running from a large Cyclops that had managed to pick up on Nico's scent, the shadows still concealing him, he stumbled into a darker area of the pit, maybe a cave if it could be referred to as that. It was more likely to be Tartarus' giant armpit, but at this point, Nico honestly couldn't give a schist. Nico stumbled into the cave, leaning against the wall as his strength left him, his shadow cloak also dissolving back into the wall, leaving him vulnerable. He faced the entrance, scanning for the cyclopes and praying they wouldn't find him. A hiss emanated from behind Nico, like a snake that was slowly waking. He flipped around to face a women, her face practically falling of her skull, with constant rivers of tears glistening down her face. Her words chilled Nico to the bone, he had already been though this once, he didn't need a reminder. Nico tried desperately to escape the dream, her words cutting into Nico's soul, tearing it to shreds and with it, his little remaining hope for the future. He sobbed with her, his breaths drawn out in painful gasps as she decreed that Nico was miserable without her interference, he was already perfect.

Now, baring in mind Nico was only 14 at the time, he thought he'd been pretty brave so far, but this had pushed him way past his limits. So he ran, away from Akhyls, away form his problems and away from that stupid cave, without the protection of the shadows.

Still reeling from his experience with Akhyls, Nico failed to notice the group of Arai until they were flying towards him, screeching "Son of Hades, you shall pay for your sins!" Now, when a shrivelled, evil monster says something like that, Nico's first reaction was of course to decapitate the nearest one to him. So that's what he did. Fairly rational reasoning he thought, kill the evil bat lady threatening to kill him, but as soon as as her essence was sucked into Nico's Stygian iron blade, he felt a searing pain in his leg as if a freezing sword had been speared through his calf. His leg unsurprisingly gave out on him, sending him sprawling to the ground, but not before he glimpsed two giants lumbering through the Keres with a large bronze jar.

"Oh Hades no." Nico muttered in half hearted sass. He felt a strange sensation take over his body, as though he were trying to shadow travel. The cold shades sinking into his body and pulling him down into Tartarus.

Nico resurfaced in the shadows of a large cave. He was sick of this now, why couldn't he just wake up. The pain in his leg had dulled to a steady throb, making it difficult to stand, but Nico managed. He looked around the scene, his hearing muffled, as though he were underwater. He was in some kind of cave (what's with all these caves??), The jagged ceiling towering high above them, the walls made out of compacted earth, but that wasn't what caught Nico's attention. In the centre of Nico's view, stood a battered and bloody, but still extremely attractive, Will Solace. His blue eyes sparkling, as though they were lighting up the room. Will looked livid about something, screaming at someone unintelligibly and shaking his hand around to emphasize his point. Nico was confused, what the Hades was he looking at? A look of horror and understanding dawned on Will's face and with that, he disappeared in a blur of light, whistling straight toward Nico. Everything went into slow motion for Nico, he could see what he assumed was Will, racing towards him through the darkness, glowing as bright as the sun. Nico was counting the seconds until impact, when his eyes suddenly shot open. He was awake, finally.

 **AN: sorry guys that was a bit drawn out, I just thought I'd try to show how freaked out Nico is by Tartarus and all that, so I thought I'd do a bit of a creepy dream chapter. I'm going to break the chapter pattern a bit and do another Nico chapter next, because I have some unfinished business with him. Anyway hope you're enjoying it.**

 **Pheebs out**


	4. 4 - Nico

**Chapter 4 - Feelings are for wimps**

 **Nico's Pov**

Bright yellow blazed in front of Nico's eyes, almost blinding him. It took him a full minute to realise that the yellow was in fact blonde hair over his face.

"What the Hades." Nico grunted and he heard a feminine squeak as the hair darted away from his eyes. He looked into the reddening face of Will Solace.

"Solace? What in -"

"Hey! Don't get like that with me Death breath, I'm only trying to save your life." Will muttered something about doing his job and how CPR may have been a drastic action anyway, whilst pottering around the room searching for some unknown medical object. Nico was still half submerged in his weird dream world, trying to organise his thoughts and trying to bury thoughts of Tartarus. To his dismay he realised he was trembling slightly, hopefully Will wouldn't notice. Nico didn't need Will thinking he was weak.

"Wait Will, what do you mean? I was just asleep. Is that not allowed? I thought I was in here to recover -"

Will whirled around, brandishing what looked like a torch in a menacing way, his eyebrows raised high so that they hid behind his golden hair.

"Nico di Angelo! Of course you're allowed to sleep don't be so moronic. The fact is, I came in and you looked dead. You wouldn't respond to anything, and I couldn't see you breathing. So I panicked! I thought you'd gone into Cardiac arrest, so I bent over to check if I could see your chest rising and to listen to your breathing. Then you mutter in my ear and scare me to death!" Nico breifly wondered if Will had meant that pun before realising that he had tuned out halfway through Will's rant, watching as he waved his hands around in annoyance and how his blue eyes had seemed to darken to a cobalt colour. He looked hot when he was mad.

"Will ok, I'm sorry. I get like that sometimes when I have dreams. I just kind of go dead to the world." There was a brief pause in which Nico considered bolting out of the room, but quickly gave up on that idea when he realised his legs felt like overcooked spaghetti.

"You had a dream?" Will enquired with what might have been sympathy, Nico wasn't sure. He wasn't used to reading emotions. One of the benefits of hanging around the Lord of the underworld and his minions.

"Um, yeah. Nothing important." Nico had to force the lie out, keeping a neutral expression and attempting to calm his tremors by fiddling with his skull ring instead.

Will had rather rudely plonked himself on the edge of Nico's bed. Nico had half a mind to shove him off so he landed on his Podex. Will ignored the glare Nico was giving him and reached out a hand, as if to grasp Nico's. Nico sucked in a breath in shock and his eyes widened, causing Will to hastily retreat his hand, holding it awkwardly as if questioning why it had just moved of it's own volition. Will started to lean forward, staring into Nico's eyes and his heart felt as though he had just had 10 italian espressos, what was happening? Was Will about to?-

A bright light startled Nico and he almost smacked his forehead against Will's outstretched hand welding the torch.

"Pupil contraction slightly delayed, but that's to be expected with the severe state of exhaustion. Nico can you look to the left for me?" Nico stared at Will mouth agape as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"Solace! A little warning next time! Zeus almighty." Nico looked to left whilst continuing to fire Italian curses, as if he had said them in English Will would probably wash his mouth with bleach despite the 'severe health implications'.

Will finally finished his eye inspection or whatever the hell was going on, he leant back so that he was sitting at a more respectable distance.

"Are you sure it was nothing?" Will gazed at Nico, his blue eyes sparkling, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth and his brow crinkling slightly into a frown. Nico's dream came back to him in a flash, seeing Will's face crumpled in rage as he shouted at an unknown enemy. Surely that couldn't be the same guy? Was Nico's dream purely made up or was there an element of truth to it? Probably the latter considering that he was a demigod, but still Nico puzzled over the scene. Was that Will actually running towards him?

The look Will was giving him almost made Nico crumble, what was this guy doing to him? Nico steeled himself and put up his normal façade, undeterred by the son of Apollo.

"I've had worse dreams. I'll live." He muttered coldly dropping eye contact from Will, unable to watch his reaction. Nico saw Will shift out the corner of his eye and he knew that he was far from done with this conversation, but just as Will opened his mouth to say something, two guys popped their heads in the doorway. It was Percy and Jason and Nico had never been happier to see them in his life.

"Hey Nico, my man. How you doing? We missed you yesterday at sparring."

"Yeah well, I would have been there if not for this guy." Nico gestured at Will, throwing his arm in the son of Apollo's direction and giving his signature 'Fear me, I am the Ghost king!' glare. Again much to Nico's annoyance and begrudging respect, Will was unaffected and simply raised an eyebrow in response.

"I think melting into a pile of shadows counts as a valid reason to have you under observation and close to medical professionals at all times. If I ignored a case like this then I don't have any right to even consider becoming a doctor when I'm older." A shadow seemed to settle on Will's face, drawing the light from his eyes. What was he thinking about? Nico opened his mouth to quiz him, but Will spoke first and the comment died in his throat.

"Anyway, I better go and check on the other patients. I still have to check the whole ward, check the supplies, perform surgery (pretty sure there's an amputation at some point), speak to the nurses..." Will carries on muttering his list of the day's events as he exited the room. Percy and Jason, both shared a confused look before turning to Nico. Before they could say anything, Will reversed and popped his head into the doorway, not unlike Percy and Jason earlier.

"Hey Perce, haven't seen you in while. Quick question, are you guys ok to sit with Nico for a bit and keep him company while I do my rounds? We're really short staffed at the moment and Death boy here just gave me a bit of a scare so I don't really want him unaccompanied at the moment." Nico rolled his eyes at Will's statement.

"Will I was fine. Plus don't call me Death boy." Nico muttered the last part glaring at Jason as he snorted in amusement. Will fixed Nico with a stern look, as if daring him to argue with him again, Nico quietly decided to leave this arguement for now.

"Good to see you Will. Yeah that's fine, we wanted to chat with Nico anyway, catch him up on the camp gossip." Percy wiggled his eyebrows at Nico, as if expecting excitement, Nico rolled his eyes and sighed in what might have been disgust.

"Goodie." Nico muttered. Although appearing mad, Nico was secretly glad for the company and felt grateful that his friends had thought of him. Will gave double thumbs up before leaving for good.

"So... You and Will then?" Jason starts, rasing one eyebrow above the rim of his glasses.

"What?! No! Of course not, he's just committed to his job and very stubborn." And very hot ,Nico added mentally, causing him to blush. Jason deadpanned at him, looking severely unimpressed. Percy shifted awkwardly before changing the conversation onto the promised camp gossip, saying how Lacey was getting with Dakota and how baby chuck was already taking after his dad, kicking a camper in the face when they got too close to him. Nico soon grew bored of the camp's gossip, feigning interest up until Percy begun to discuss how the Romans were still at camp, helping to rebuild after the war and how they were quite disgusted by the informality of the Greeks, calling the daily cabin feuds childish.

"How are Hazel and Reyna?" Nico interrupted, deciding that he had lost interest on how the Hephaestus cabin had detonated a new invention over the Ares cabin to see if the roof was fortified as well.

"They're good, yeah. Reyna's been busy making sure all the Romans stay peaceful and Hazel, well... I think she's taking it quite hard at the moment. But she's been spending time with Frank and Arion so she's doing ok." Jason looked down, looking as though the weight of the sky had suddenly crushed upon him.

"I know man, I know." Percy said reaching out, placing his hand on Jason's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. They both looked so glum, Nico wished he could boost their spirits, but he had no idea how. He can't say about how Leo's death felt weird, what if it turned out to be nothing? No, he couldn't do that to them. He was about to change the subject when a huge flash of light suddenly filled the room followed shortly by a a deafening crash of thunder.

"Was that-?" Nico started, Jason cut in.

"Thunder? But that's impossible, no storm can get inside the camp borders." Jason glanced to Percy in confusion as if asking if he was responsible.

"Hey! Lightning isn't my thing, I'm the hurricane guy!" Percy defended whilst peering outside the window. The sky had darkened until it almost felt like night, with the occasional burst of lightning overhead.

"Oh man, this brings back déjà vu. Only time I've seen a storm like this in camp is when the master bolt went missing." Percy shuddered at the memory. Jason started incredulously at him.

"Went missing?!"

"Yeah long story. Anyway we better go check out and see if anyone knows what's going on. You stay here and wait for Will." Nico had started to get out of bed to help the boys, but a wave of vertigo sent him back onto his bed.

"Yeah I think I will. Thanks for coming guys, it was nice to see you." Nico said, Percy and Jason responded in kind before leaving. Nico felt his eyes start to drift shut when Jason suddenly ran back into the room.

"Assuming we don't die from whatever's causing this storm, are you up for capture the flag? It's on Friday night so you've got some time to decide. Let me know if you are and you can go on my team." Jason flashed a grin at Nico. A warm feeling run through Nico, he had never been invited by another camper to do capture the flag before.

"Yeah sounds good. Although I might need an all clear from 'the Doc' first." Nico said, sarcasm lacing his voice as he referred to Solace. Jason flashed a thumbs up before leaving again.

Finally, some peace and quiet. Nico thought before drifting off to sleep.


	5. 5 - Will

**AN: sorry for the lack of action so far, I've been trying to build up characters and plots and stuff and hopefully squeezing in some solangelo moments. the title of this chapter of this song is inspired by the Thirty Seconds to Mars Song, Walk on Water, beacuse I thought it fits pretty well with this and the next chapter. Heres the link:**

 ** _https/m./watch?v=44NYFvhXmW8_**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 5- Do you believe that you can win this fight tonight?**

 **Will's POV**

Time had crept up on Will and slapped him in the face. He had no idea where the last two days had gone. Well, he had some idea. Mostly sitting and chatting with Nico, but that's besides the point. Will had insisted that Nico stay an extra day (much to his annoyance), after he had started to dissolve into shadow half way through dinner. If Will wasn't so afraid of Nico's imminent death, he would have laughed, as the burger fell straight through his mouth, through his lap before settling on the floor leaving a half transparent Nico with a comical look on his face. Will wasn't entirely convinced Nico was ready to be discharged today, but detaining the son of Hades any longer wasn't an option, he didn't think the bed-side plants could take many more of his temper tantrums. Besides, Nico was physically almost back to full health (thanks to the hymns to his father and unicorn draft), the only issues remaining were his unstable powers and his poor eating habits, but Will knew that the latter would take more time. Nico's powers however, Will knew there was nothing more he could do for him. This was out of a healer's power, the son of Hades would have to win this battle on his own, but Will didn't have much confidence in the fact that Nico wanted to get better. He seemed to just be burying his problems and hoping that no-one would notice. Well sadly for him Will was a master of diagnosis (if he did say so himself) so he had picked up on Nico's condition when everyone else had believed he was getting better.

Will whistled a sad tune, not fully recognising it but just trying to distract himself from the relentless tasks the infirmary threw at him and the growing feeling of loneliness as he could no longer go and chat to Nico for a few minutes. He had probably spent more time in the infirmary than in his bunk since the war, which was a worrying thought. Will started going over the symptoms of exhaustion in his head, Somnolence, general muscle fatigue and lethargy which could cause many accidents, especially in a high risk area such as the infirmary when handling extreme situations -

"Uhh, Will you alright there?" Will turned to find Lou Ellen and Cecil stopped outside the room Will was in. He realised he had been muttering and he was pretty sure it hadn't been coherent sentences, Not that my thought processes are coherent.

"Will, you there? Earth to Will." Lou Ellen had started to wave her hand frantically inches away from Will's face, her flame red hair bouncing as she did so. Will leaned back so that he wasn't smacked in the face, accidently or on purpose.

"Hey, sorry guys I'm pretty tired today must be making my ADHD act up. I can't keep focus. But anyway what brings you guys here to my humble abode?" Will gestured around the room with grandeur, making Lou Ellen snort. Will puzzled over what felt wrong in this scene, then he realised that it was Cecil. He normally would have joined in the conversation or even burst out laughing by now, but he stood there looking slightly ashamed and almost... Lopsided?

"Oh not again Lou, tell me you didn't."

"Well... That would be a lie and since Apollo is the God of truth, that probably wouldn't go down too well with you so..." Lou Ellen trailed off, trying and failing miserably to look guilty, ending up looking amused.

"Cecil might get permanent damage if you keep this up! You're completely changing his anatomy, redirecting his vascular networks, changing his skin, reverting his knee and not mention his nerves! Zeus knows what state they're in." He and Lou Ellen helped Cecil to the table, propping up the affected leg ready to be examined.

Will knew as soon as he saw it that Cecil would be fine, it would just take a day for the charm to wear off, but for now he would have to make do with one pig leg and trotter where his normal leg used to be. Will started to test the circulation in Cecil's leg by poking it and seeing how long it took for the discolouration to disappear before going on to test his knee reflex, partly to check his nerve function but mostly because it meant that Will got to hit him with a hammer. A normal knee jerk reaction showed Will that despite the regular changes in anatomy, Cecil's leg was still operational (despite his knee currently facing the opposite way).

With a sigh, Will turned from the two trouble makers and started to put his instruments away ready for the next patient. Lou ellen and Cecil begun to speak in the background again, but Will was lost in his own thoughts considering the day's events, which patients he'd have to see and whether he'd get to see a certain son of Hades at some point. Lou Ellen interrupted his reverie.

"Will are you sure you're ok? I mean, any other time we did this you'd be throwing medical insults at us by now-"

"Don't tempt me." Will muttered.

"-you just seem. I don't know off."

Lou Ellen looked to Cecil as I'd asking for his support, he responded with a lopsided shrug.

"She's right man, you seem more mad than normal-"

"Hey!"

"- we're your friends Will. You can speak to us, we can help."

Will paused in his tidying, considering whether he should speak to them or not. He knew that they were right, he was being weird but he just couldn't work out what was wrong. Maybe it has something to do with the one who goes by the name of 'Ghost king'. Will shook his head, that couldn't be it, Nico was great, but they were just friends. Plus if he told them about that then he'd have to tell them about his past. That settled it, he decided that he couldn't understand his feelings himself, let alone explain them to his friends so he settled on telling an exaggerated truth.

"Guys, like I said, I'm just tired. It's been a long shift and I still have plenty of patients to see. Which is my cue to leave." Will began shepherding them to the door but Cecil managed to plant his feet (or foot and trotter) and stay in place.

"Wait Will, Waaaaiiiit!" Will stopped pushing them and they both turned to face him.

"We wanted ask if you'd join the blue team, we're with Percy. We can be the epic trio once more." Cecil flourished his hands in a propostorous gesture making Lou Ellen snort again and smack his arm and causing Will to crack a smile.

"Apollo cabin's already on the blue team, keep up with events guys. Percy agreed to do our stable chores for a week if we joined."

"Oh man, ours sounds rubbish now. He only said he'd be lenient on cabin inspections for us. Although maybe that is kind of a big favour considering the state of our cabin." Cecil pondered his thoughts until Lou finally had enough and begun to drag him from the room. Before they left, Cecil turned to Will with his signature trouble maker smile that made Will want to check for his wallet.

"Shame Nico's not on our team, huh Will?" Will proceeded to mutter very intelligible words, such as "Uh, duh." His mouth hanging open as his brain went into overdrive. Did Cecil know about Will? No that was impossible, no-one knew, not even Will (not for certain anyway).

The next hours blurred together once more for Will, his brain occasionally wondering before he caught himself and refocused on his tasks. He was preparing to reset an Ares camper's arm when it started.

"Ugh Will, don't poke it."

"I have to, I need to assess the severity and I'm not 'poking' it." The burly guy (Hank he thought he was called?) hissed in pain as Will tried to feel for the break in his bone.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be tough. Just be still, I won't be long."

Will went over to grab the plaster and a square of ambrosia to dull the pain.

"Ugh this has been the worst day, first I get beaten in sword practice by Weako Diangelo-" Will's guards shot up with a clang as he tensed up, trying to hold in his building contempt for this guy. Who did he think he was?

"- then he gets all whiny and shoves me, doing this!" He waved the afflicted limb before withdrawing it with groan of pain. Apparently he could only communicate with groans and grunts.

"Nico did this?" Will questioned, he knew that Nico could be a bit temperamental, but he doubted he would react like this without provocation. Will put the ambrosia back in the cupboard and walked to the Area kid.

"Yeah, surprising right? Didn't know he had it in him." Will lost his nerve. He grabbed Hank's arm in a tight clamp and yanked the bone forcefully back into its original place. This time, Hank did not groan.

"There you go, all sorted, Kayla will be in to put on your cast and give you your pain meds." But for now you can suffer, Will thought in triumph as he strolled out from the room leaving a shocked and shaking son of Ares on the bed.

After he told Kayla about the interesting camper in room 33, he heard the conch horn for dinner and headed for the mess hall. Hades this had been a weird day.

 **AN: Hey guys, so I've split the chapter into two because it was getting pretty lengthy and I thought I might as well post this half now. Let me know if that was too dark for Will, I was just trying to show his protective/ savage side. Stay tuned for capture the flag next chapter.**

 **Pheebs out**


	6. 6 - Will

**AN: Hey guys, here's the second part of Will's chapter, the song from the last one probably applies more to this one so you can have a listen to it while you read it you want. This chapter will contain some serious... Capture the flag!! Wooo finally!! Anyway, hope you're enjoying it so far.**

 **Pheebs out**

 **Chapter 6 - Do you believe that you can win this fight tonight? (PART 2)**

 **Will's POV**

Will couldn't believe he did that. It was definitely not in protocol and he'd never done anything like it before, So why now? He wondered, twirling his fork in his macaroni cheese trying unsuccessfully to tangle them around it. His gaze wondered across the hall to the Hades table where Nico sat with Jason, Nico mostly staring blankly whilst Jason ranted enthusiastically about something the son of Hades was blatantly uninterested in. A small smirk suddenly broke across Nico's face, one that made Will's heart go into a brief state of arrhythmia (or as normal people say, skip a beat). He was focused on Will, he had noticed he was looking at him and was now raising an eyebrow. His expression paired with that mischievous smile made Will fumble his fork and flick macaroni towards the Aphrodite table. He quickly lowered his gaze and cowered slightly, trying to appear innocent and unaware despite his growing blush. Will could pick out Nico's laughter from across the room, so he turned to him and narrowed his eyes into an annoyed glare, making Nico laugh harder for some reason.

Chiron interrupted their across the room conversation by stomping his hoof, silencing the hall after a few seconds.

"Campers, I trust you all had productive days today."

Murmurs of "Yeah right" and sniggers bounced around the room. Most campers were taking it easy after the war and although he wasn't entirely sure (because you could never tell with Chiron) he thought that the old centaur was being lenient with them.

"Very well, because tonight we play capture the flag!" Cheers echoed around the room as campers jostled each other and bumped fists across the tables.

"But first I want to say a few words -" A few impatient groans were heard before he continued.

"I know how hard this week has been for everyone, and I just wanted to say how proud I am of you. You never asked to be demigods, you never asked for this life, and you were never supposed to fight in one, let alone two wars at such a young age -"

Will fingered his clay bead necklace absent mindedly, feeling the empire state building and all of those names.

"- but still, you behave like true heroes and pull through. Although we have..." Chrion seemed to struggle to keep his emotions in check, but continued with only a slight quaver in his voice.

"-Lost friends, they will never be forgotten and will always be remembered as our greatest warriors. " Will could see Piper crying silently over at her table, her sister Lacey gripping her hand tightly to console her.

"Despite the tragedy of the occasion, good has arisen. We have made new allies, friends, that are dearly missed tonight. I have heard from Reyna that the legion should arrive back at Camp Jupiter by the end of the week if all goes to plan. From there we will try to arrange trips where campers can do exchange visits -" Will tuned out at this point, his brain finally having enough and resorting to reliving all of the procedures he'd done during the day.

Movement drew Will's attention and he looked towards the Hades table to see Nico picking through his fries whilst still listening to Chrion. Will felt the urge to smirk as he watched him. He looked so cute. No he couldn't think like that, it wasn't right. He shook off the growing feeling of oppression as the memory tried to take hold in his head. No. He shook his head and refocused on the day's events, trying to distract himself, unaware that Nico had seen his unusual behaviour.

Chiron finally finished talking about 'changes to timetables due to Naiad strikes' and other fascinating subjects, ending with.

"Remember, try not to kill one another, that would be problematic. Enjoy capture the flag everyone." Everyone cheered and jumped to get the best armour before it was taken. The campers chatted excitedly to one another and it took Will a moment to work out why. It was the first game that both Percy and Jason would be playing and they were both on opposing teams, making it even more interesting. Will selected his normal armour, the only bronze breast plate with a golden lyre embossed into it, bronze elbow and shin guards and a bronze helmet with a blue plume. He selected a golden bow an assorted quiver of arrows (knowing for well that he would not use them, his archery sucked) and a weedy looking bronze dagger from the weapons and lined up with his cabin. Like other cabin leaders, Will was the only child of Apollo with different armour, it was tradition that head counsellors wore the symbol of the cabin into battle (or less serious events like games).

"Right then guys, our job tonight is to scout for the flag, no defense. We need to split up into groups of three or four so that you can be stealthy and remain undetected. You get that Stan, no recreating Thriller like last time, ok?" Stan blushed and nodded, looking shameful as he remembered their last defeat.

"Right then, pick your groups, sensibly and let's win this!" His cabin smacked the flats of their bows against their shields in a syncopated, stoccato beat before shouting Apollo. Another stupid tradition that no other cabins seemed to have, although the Area cabin always tended to ram into each other before a game like the opposing teams in rugby, shouting words of encouragement at each other.

Once they were all in teams, with Will going with Cecil and Lou Ellen due to odd numbers in the cabins, they trudged down the hill to meet at the forest's border. As they approached, Will spotted Percy and Annabeth, on the same team as always. Will guessed they must have been discussing tactics, because Percy looked unnaturally serious.

Will approached them, intending to confirm the game plan once more.

"Hey Will, so one of our sources-"

"You're welcome." Cecil said puffing out his chest, until he realised he had interrupted Annabeth. He quickly deflated and backed away slightly.

"-overheard from the red team that they were hiding the flag in the forest closest to the canoe lake, so you should focus your search around that area. We'll go on defense and -"

"Kick some butt." Percy interjected, making Annabeth smirk and punched his arm whilst muttering 'Seaweed brain'. Will decided he should make a hasty retreat before they started making out.

"I'll go tell the troops. Good luck guys."

It was only fifteen minutes until the game started and Will was once again lost in thought. He had told his cabin the plan and then briefly attempted to speak to Lou Ellen and Cecil about their game plan, but Will found that they tended to have much more relaxed tactics, replying in unison as they nodded to each other.

"Wing it."

Will was thinking about how he would probably have to deal with Chiron after he found about the Ares kid, but got distracted as a flash of golden light as bright as the sun reflected off someone's shield. Will was stunned, the light filling his vision. He was seeing things, he must be. He really must be exhausted if that tiny glimmer of light had reminded him of -

"You ready to be beaten Solace?" Will's first reaction was to go into defensive mode, he would never be ready to lose. He looked to the person who had spoken and found that it was, of course, Nico Di Angelo. Will might be prepared to lose to him.

"You wish death boy. Besides you can't use your powers anyway so I will have a distinct advantage over you." Will knew that this wasn't true at all, Nico was still a formidable swordsman without his powers, but he just wanted to have some fun.

"What? Are you going to whistle at me til I run away?" Nico asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"You'll see." Will said with a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"How've you been feeling today then? Any better?" Will wanted to fill the growing awkward silence between them. Nico shrugged in a nonchalant manner, seeming to not care about the matter.

"Yeah sort of. I'll be alright. How was your day? No offence but you kind of look like a zombie and trust me, I know my zombies." A small pang of hurt rung through Will as Nico compared him to a member of the undead, but he buried the feeling.

"I'm alright, just tired you know? Been saving people seven days straight now with no break. Although almost all of the patients from the war have been treated now so hopefully it won't be like this for much longer."

Nico pursed his lips into a thin line as if concentrating and furrowed his brow. He looked unimpressed.

"You shouldn't be working that much Will, you can only do so much. You should pull a sicky. Don't go in tomorrow -" Nico paused in his tirade gaining a look of amusement.

"Doctor's orders."

That's my line you little -"

"Attention campers. The race begins in five, four -"

"Good luck." Nico said as he jogged back towards the red team's site. Will couldn't quite work out whether he was being serious or not, but he jogged over to his team.

"Three, two, one." Chiron blew the conch horn and the two teams barreled into the forest, war cries running through the the air scaring the nearby birds our of the trees.

As usual, not much happened in the first hour. Their only encounters with the red team being brief as Cecil would counter with the group with a decoy he'd set up earlier. How he'd managed to do this in his state, Will didn't know and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

As yet another lure shot past the group of Ares kids, they slunk in the opposite direction, using their stealth to escape. After five minutes of walking in silence, Cecil obviously forgot the meaning of stealth and begun to whisper at a tone that another person would definitely not consider whispering.

"I can't believe that actually worked again. How are they so stupid?"

"You can't talk piggy." Lou Ellen snorted at her own joke finding herself hilarious, making Will smirk and roll his eyes at the two.

"Uh uh. No fair. You're the one who cast the spell and you're the one who's obsessed with pigs!" A movement in the branches above their heads caught Will's attention.

"Guys shut up for a second."

"Well that's just rude." Cecil huffed, standing there looking expectant.

"What are we shutting up for?" Lou Ellen questioned, looking around the clearing as her fingers started to gain a purple aura, meaning that more pig curses would be imminent.

"I saw something. Look, up there." Will pointed to the tree at the far side of the clearing with the large red flag hanging from its branches about 15 foot off the ground.

They all crept towards the tree, surveying the area as they went, their hands on their respective weapons. They were almost at the trees roots when they were stopped in their tracks. A shadow rose up from... Well, the tree's shadow.

"Oh Hades no, you did not just do that." Nico stood in front of the trio, seemingly fine apart from a slight pale demeanor. He rose his Stygian iron blade and beckoned them forward, wearing nothing but his black fall out boy t-shirt and ripped (very) skinny jeans with black scuffed up Doc Martins. When will this guy learn that armour was invented for a reason? Or is he just determined to be a cocky little -

"You're on Solace. I hope you've improved your game since the war." Nico quipped, his eyebrow raised sassily with that mischievous smirk once again on his face. Will felt adrenaline coursing through his body, although he wasn't entirely sure if it was from the imminent fight.

He put his bow on the floor, realising it would be useless in such close proximity (and he didn't particularly want to shoot Nico) and drew his pathetic looking dagger from his belt earning a look of what could have been disgust from Nico.

Will knew that he would loose against Nico and was trying to think of a way out, maybe Cecil could pull another one of tricks. He turned to his friends only to find Piper holding her dagger under Cecil's neck, slightly dramatic in Will's opinion but still, that meant that he couldn't pull any tricks. Lou Ellen had seemed to have disappeared, most likely using the mist to conceal her position. Will spotted a purple glow at the opposite end of the clearing and knew that Lou Ellen would take care of Piper, Will just had to take on Nico.

"Bring it on death boy." He advanced towards Nico, slinking forward in a way that seemed to somehow mesmerise Nico, swaying his hips as he flicked his dagger from hand to hand. Will caught the dagger in his right hand one last time and swung it at an area that would cause the least damage, Nico's arm. Nico blocked his blade, his trance ending in a shock. Will feinted to the left hoping to catch Nico off guard before stabbing at his right calf. Nico took advantage of Will's unbalanced position and flipped him over, using his own weight against him. Will stared for a moment up Nico's sword, admiring the way it shone in the moonlight, before smacking it away with the dagger and rolling to the side, jumping back up and facing Nico once more.

They continued like this for some time, Will would attack and Nico would defend almost lazily, not seeming to be expending a huge amount of effort in beating Will's ass. Will was pretty sure Nico was just playing with him at this point, testing his fighting abilities and relying on reflex alone to deflect Will's attacks.

A bright purple flash lit up the clearing as Lou Ellen worked her magic, a loud pop echoing through the air before turning to a defeating high pitched squeal. Piper was now a pig, just leaving Nico between them and the flag. Nico looked confused as he looked to Piper and the side of the clearing trying to piece together the situation. Will took advantage of his confusion and put his fingers to his mouth, taking a huge breath of air. Luckily Cecil realised what was about to happen and covered his ears. Nico's eyes widened as Will let out a super sonic whistle. The volume of Will's whislte was too loud for Nico's inner ear as he staggered to the side and fell whilst clutching his ears desperately. Will vaulted up the tree, tore down the flag and sprinted to the North, back to the creek.

Energy coursed through Will, rippling though his muscles, as he poured on speed making a beeline for the creek. He was never stopped, dodging and ducking under the opposing team as they tried to tackle him.

Will vaulted across the creek, landing in a pile tangled with the now golden flag. Chiron blew the conch horn, signalling the end of the game, it was only then that it sunk in for Will that he had actually won a combat game. He had won capture the flag.

His cabin mate's were shouting and screaming as they rose him on their shields. Will cheered with them, brandishing the flag in triumph and accepting a high five from Percy and Annabeth. Will wasn't certain, but he thought that Percy looked like he hadn't sustained any major injuries in his battle against the son of Jupiter, so Will guessed that he was the victor.

From his raised vantage point, Will could see Nico speaking to Cecil and Lou Ellen, nodding and looking impressed. Will wondered why Nico hadn't caught up to him on his race to the creek, he hoped that he hadn't hurt Nico with his whistle (AN: No innuendo intended, don't be dirty!). Will ended up having to shout at his siblings in order to be put down (after minutes of jostling and screaming). Once Will was on solid ground, he made his way to the edge of the crowd, looking for an unruly mop of raven hair. Will spotted Nico at the rear of the crowd, and plowed his way through, reaching his side in seconds.

"So that happened." Will scoffed, trying to gauge Nico's feelings about his defeat. Nico narrowed his eyes, but a small smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Don't worry Solace, I'll get you next time. I suppose congratulations are in order though."

"Thanks, I think. But how come you didn't catch up with me after I got the flag? I know I have longer legs than you and all that, but you could have just shadow-travelled."

"Firstly my legs are not short." Will was about to crush his optimistic views, but Nico carried on, drowning out Will's attempts.

"And secondly, I didn't want to shadow-travel again because I thought my doctor might force me to stay in the infirmary for a month this time and I value my freedom." Will felt slightly hurt that Nico didn't want to spend time with him, but he could understand where he was coming from. Even Will was starting to get sick of the white washed walls of the infirmary.

Will noticed as they talked that they began to drift farther from the crowd, too absorbed in their own conversations to care about it. But as the crowd started to leave the forest, a feeling of unease began to settle in Will's stomach, like he'd just swallowed a frozen boulder. Something bad was about to happen. The feeling grew in Will until he interrupted Nico's rant about happy meal toys.

"Uh, Nico I think something -"

A roar sliced through Will's sentence. Looking back on it, Will wasn't even sure if it was a roar, more like a circular saw that had gone rusty about five millennia ago and had been forced into action again. They both turned to face the deafening noise, dread blossoming in Will's chest.

"Oh dam." Nico muttered, unsheathing his Stygian blade. The creature towering in front of them easily reached the height of the pine trees surrounding them, blotting out the moonlight above the pair of outmatched demigods, it's legs sending branching shadows into the forest and it's eyes glowing a poisonous green colour.

Will unslung his bow and loaded an explosive arrow, hoping that it would get through the monster's chitinous exterior.

"Attack of the mutant centipedes!" Will screamed, unleashing his explosive arrow and running to get a better vantage point. Lee Fletcher's words rung though his head, his first ever archery lesson coming back to him.

"Never take a shot if you can't see what you're doing. There's no point. You need a better view if you're gonna defeat someone." Will shook the bitter-sweet memory from his head, preparing to shoot another arrow from his higher position before realising that it wasn't needed.

The centipede spat venom at an object moving with such grace and agility that it was difficult to comprehend that it was human. Nico swiped his sword at the legs as he vaulted from side to side, into somersaults, back-flips and all other crazy ninja moves, dodging venom spurts and chopping off limbs. Nico was even more amazing at fighting than Will ever considered. How was a fourteen year old this good?

Will unleashed a second arrow (this one a sonic arrow), intending to aim for the creature's head, but the arrow instead impacting on its shoulder. The arrow released it's deafening cry next to the centipede's head, causing it flail and let out another grinding roar. Nico took advantage of the beast's disorientation and scaled it's body, flipping out of the way as legs blocked his path. He finally reached the head of the creature and swung his sword down with all his remaining energy, screaming with effort as he plunged his sword hilt deep into a chink in the centipede's armour at its neck. The centipede started to topple sideways with Nico balancing on it's head, riding the beast until he could leap off safely. Will was so distracted by Nico, that he didn't realise what would happen with the centipede's tail end until it was too late. The momentum of the falling monster caused it's tail to be brought up around to hit Will square on the back of his head, sending him flying into a tree on the opposite side of the path. The pain blinded him and he was unable to see if Nico was ok, he could feel himself gradually sliding down the tree trunk, before falling into a pile at its roots, slipping into unconsciousness and letting the pain overcome him.

 **AN: Yo guys, so I'm pretty sure this isn't actually a Greek monster but I got inspiration from one of my lecturers the other day saying how people should be scared of centipedes instead of spiders because they're evil. His words not mine, but anyway hope you'll forgive me. You may have also recognised a head cannon in there about Nico being super bendy and Ninja like, so I thought I'd give credit here about that. I'll try to start the next part soon.**

 **Pheebs out**


	7. 7 - Nico

**AN:** **Ok, not completely sure how to do this but thank you** a-halfblood-with-attitude **for** **leaving a review it means a lot :)** **and also thank you** Imaginativegeek! **Your review made me so happy thank you so much! But yeah, I am hoping to try and clear the air between Percy and Nico, hopefully before the quest.** **Song of the chapter** is **Coast** **to Coast by** **Europe**

 **https** **/www.google.co.uk/url?sa=tsource=webrct=jurl=%23ved=0ahUKEwiR4eyLoKDZAhXHD8AKHRHWAPEQ8TUIMzABusg**

 **For** **anyone who doesn't know, Europe are rhe band that did the Final Countdown. I know its a bit of an old song but I love the band's great! Plus I feel like this is quite relevant for Nico. I've got another belter lined up for a later chapter from this band. Anyway, here's chapter 7.**

Pheebs out!

 **Chapter 7 - Scallop what?**

Nico's POV:

Nico really was out of shape, and he could certainly feel that now as he lugged Will up towards the other campers. Now, Will wasn't particularly heavy. It was just the fact that Nico hadn't been able to do his normal training recently (due to a certain Doctor keeping him in the dam infirmary), also Will was probably double Nico's height. So as Nico carried him in a fireman's lift, he felt as though Will's forehead might smack the floor behind him, which probably wouldn't make his condition any better. When Nico first found him, (after defeating that insect-monster thing that came out of nowhere), Will had been slumped on the floor with his face ashen and sweaty. Nico was out of his territory here, he could do fighting, but first aid? Not a chance in Olympus. He figured that he should probably first check to see if Will was still awake, so he called out to him and went to move him upright.

"Solace, what you doing down there? Will are you -" Nico stopped short as he felt a sticky substance on the hand that he used to move Will's head. He didn't need to look to know that it was blood. He went into he default neutral mode trying to mask his panic, throwing Will over his shoulder (to which Will gave a low grunt, showing that he was somewhat conscious now). Will's head lolled against him as they made their way to the other campers and the infirmary. Nico would have shadow travelled, but he didn't enough energy left after the centipede attack to transport himself, never-mind another person. He called out as he reached the crowd.

"Medic! We need a medic! Will's hurt!" Nico carried on in a panic, ranting in Italian as the other Apollo campers took their time. Nico lowered Will to the floor and he noticed that, although unfocused, Will's sky blue eyes were staring up at him.

"Hey Death boy. Thanks for saving my butt." Nico was shocked, why was he thanking him? But then he smiled a small relieved smile, thankful that Will was semi coherent. Hopefully he wasn't too badly hurt.

"You don't have to say thank you Will."

"Yeah well, you did save me. I was just sitting there while you were being like a ninja! You were doing flips and like Wow! Pow! Bam!Like a ninja, but a pretty ninja. Yeah, preeettyyy." Will slurred, seemingly having no mental barrier. Ok, maybe he was worse than he seemed. Nico blushed crimson and looked away, searching for the healers which he spotted in the distance and hoping they would hurry so he could escape this awkward situation. In truth, as embarrassing as it was (especially since the small crowd of campers near them had definitely overheard and were chuckling), Nico felt a warm feeling blossoming in his chest. Will Solace had called him pretty, which was slightly emasculating but Nico didn't mind too much.

"I think you might be delirious Solace." Nico muttered, trying not to draw any more attention from the surrounding campers. Will proves his point by proceeding to talk about rainbow Pegasi, before his startling blue eyes rolled back in his head again.

The healers finally made it to Will's side, lugging a medicine bag with them full of Gods know what. As they tended to Will, wrapping his head in a slightly excessive bandage and rolling him onto a gurney, Nico sat backand took a deep breath. What the hell had just happened? It had been capture the flag what felt like minutes ago, how had they ended up in this mess?

As Will was carried off towards the infirmary, Nico rose and spotted Chiron heading towards him to check out the commotion.

"Nico, what in Hades name happened?" Nico paused to try and collect a reasonable response, fatigue finally hitting him after his first major physical exertion since the war.

"We were walking back from capture the flag and somehow got separated from the rest of the campers, then this huge centipede tries to eat us for some reason." Nico waited hoping for some kind of explanation from Chiron. He had to fight the urge to yawn as Chiron considered his answer, why was he so tired?

"Hmm, I didn't stock the woods with any new monsters recently, and I've certainly never heard of this creature before." Chiron stroked his beard, pondering Nico's words. Meanwhile, Nico had started to fantasise about his coffin shaped bed back in Cabin 13.

"I wander... Maybe... Hmm, we should talk about this tomorrow, you need to get some rest." Nico couldn't force himself to disagree with him.

"I'll organise a meeting for all the cabin leaders tomorrow and hopefully Will can join us by then to give his side of this." Chiron wandered off, still looking pensive and Nico felt dread start to uncoil inside him. What was Chiron thinking about that made him so scared?

The world blurred as Nico finally gave in to his longing for sleep. He trudged to the Hades cabin and for once, didn't care about the grotesque decor as it faded from his vision within seconds and he was falling into the dream-world. Unfortunately for Nico, sleeping also meant that his mental barriers were down. So the thoughts that would otherwise stay out of his mind came to plague his sleep.

Despite popular belief, Nico was not a huge fan of the dark. Ironic as it was for a son of Hades to fear his element, he had a reason. He'd started to feel uncomfortable ever since he had started to melt into the shadows and the lost voices had tried to claim his soul. So of course, Nico's dream had to be completely pitch black with no light whatsoever. He could feel his chest starting to tighten as he looked for a source of light, his breaths growing uneven and quick. The air around Nico might have been dry ice for all he knew, as the cold seeped into Nico's body and settled deep in his bones. A warmth suddenly ignited in Nico's bicep, the heat rolling down his right arm like an out of control forest fire, burning through the rest of his body and thawing him out. At first, Nico was grateful for the heat, but it was starting to get uncomfortable now, with the heat rising by the second, burning in his veins like he'd been poisoned. Nico felt himself start to float, his body weightless, as he drifted up towards... Was that light? A tiny pinprick of light shone in the distance making Nico's heart hammer. He could really get out of here.

The light grew closer as the hours passed and the burning slowly abated as he climbed the air towards the light (his brain told him it was the world of the living). As he finally broke the surface, taking in the beautiful cerulean sky and a hot piece of celestial bronze which his body was resting on, Nico heard a knock and it took him a second to realise that this hadn't originated from his dream. He reluctantly dragged his eyes open, rubbing the sleep from them, with his mind still reeling in confusion.What in Hades had that been about? Nico flipped himself out of bed and swung the door open to reveal a slightly dishevelled looking Percy Jackson, his hair looking as though he had just rolled out of bed and attempted to flatten it but given up half way through.

"Morning Nico, Chrion says that the meeting's at half nine, so if you could go and grab Will before then (if he's up) and take him over with you, that would be great."

"Ok, thanks Perce." Nico muttered, starting to shut the cabin door in his face, fully intending to get back in bed.

"No Nico wait. I, um, wondered if I could talk to you quick?" Unease started to claw at his insides. Why was Percy stuttering? Was he nervous.?

Percy apparently wasn't going to wait for Nico's answer as he barrelled on with his speech anyway.

"I meant to say this the other day but I didn't really want to say anything in front of Jason. Sorry if I was kind of a jerk the other day, I just completely wasn't expecting that you might like me. I always thought it was Annabeth, but never... Maybe I should have known, and I'm sorry I didn't notice before. I'm sorry I hurt you Nico. But thank you for telling me, I can't imagine how much courage that must have taken from you."

Nico tried to speak but his words were choked in his throat almost as though he had asthma. He felt a tear fall from his eye as Percy's words hit him. He didn't hate him.

"Hey now Neeks don't do that. Come here." Percy pulled him into a tight hug and Nico relaxed into it, his relief overwhelming him. He couldn't believe he was crying, what sort of demigod cried?

"You're like the scary little goth brother I never had. And I'm pretty sure all of the seven feel the same way, no matter who you like." A warm feeling spread through Nico, like the ice inside him was finally melting after all these years. His guards that he had built up to protect himself were crumbling down as he realised he didn't need to anymore. A smile tugged at Nico's mouth and he pulled away from Percy to smile at him.

"You're like the annoying, bossy, smelly older brother I never had, that I could definitely beat in a fight." Nico raised his eyebrows in challenge.

"Oh, you take that back Death breath."

"What, is the famous Percy Jackson scared of a little fourteen year old boy?" That was the first and last time that Nico referred to himself as little.

"You're on Di Angelo! I'm gonna whoop yo ass! But after the meeting."

"Ugh yeah forgot about that. See you then, but Percy -" Nico called him back just as he was about to leave through the large obsidian door.

"- Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." Percy nodded with a warm look in his eyes before running across the green, no doubt to the Athena cabin.

Nico decided that he was completely awake now so there wasn't much point in going back to bed now. He wondered breifly what he should do to pass the time before remembering last night's events.

"Oh Zeus! Will!" He all but ran to the infirmary, his concern for his formed growing by the minute. Why hadn't he remembered earlier? What if he was still delirious? What if the ambrosia hadn't worked? Nico carried on fretting as he ploughed through the infirmary, searching for the bright yellow hair and blinding smile he had grown much too accustomed to the last few days.

He finally found the son of Apollo propped up in a bed in one of the rooms near the back of the infirmary, staring vacantly at the wall as though it had answers to life's biggest questions. The lost expression on Will's face made Nico worry that he might still be out of it, so he decided to test the water.

"Hey Solace. You see why I said you need some murals in this place now?" Will's eyes snapped away from the wall in alarm, almost as if Nico had caught him doing something shameful. He quickly recovered and shot Nico a lopsided grin that made Nico's insides melt all over again (but for another reason entirely).

"Yeah I agree. But they're not gonna be murals of corpses and zombies and creepy Hades stuff though. We need cheer and brightness in here."

"Ugh, you're definitely feeling better then." Nico gagged at the son of Apollo's cheesiness.

"Yeah, just a bit of a headache and I'm still a bit patchy on last night. I remember the centipede thing but then after that is all kind of blurred together." Nico struggled on how to politely word that Will had been knocked unconscious by the beast's tail.

"Um, so you hurt your head when you were thrown by the huge insect thing and smacked into a tree."

"Ah so that'll be the concussion then." Will muttered, fingering the bandage lightly.

"And then I brought you up to the healers -"

"You didn't shadow travel again did you? Because if you did you should be the one in here." Nico rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"-No I didn't luckily for you, otherwise we might both be lost in the shadow realm. But then Chiron wanted to know what happened, so I tried to explain but I was basically falling asleep on my feet, so he suggested that we have a meeting today to discuss it." Nico wasn't sure why he was rambling like this. Maybe it was because of Percy giving him a spike of adrenaline earlier or because of the sight of Will in a hospital gown with his muscular, tanned arms on show - Nah-uh brain. Stop right there.

"So we have a meeting today then? Is that why you came to see me?" Was it Nico's imagination or did Will look crestfallen? Guilt started to creep up inside Nico, he should have come to visit first thing.

"Partly and I also wanted to come check if my friend was still delirious."

"Oh Gods I was delirious? What did I say? Actually, no I don't want to know. Please spare me." Will buried his flaming red cheeks in his folded arms.

"It happens to us all Solace." Nico said with a smirk, hoping to diffuse his embarrassment. Nico had no idea how to really console someone in a situation like this, this was alien territory. He settled on resting his hand on Will's shoulder, ignoring the rush of static that travelled from his fingers through his body. Will looked up with a small smile playing on his mouth.

"When's this meeting start then?" Nico unconsciously checked the time on Will's watch at the mention of time and swore in Italian.

"In five minutes. Come on Sunshine let's get you up."

They got to the big house with relatively little trouble. Well, excluding when Will's legs gave out, to which he denied all knowledge and just ploughed on, holding on to Nico's arm for balance. The two arrived at the rec room to find the usual chaos, with Percy and Jason having a thumb wrestle with added thunder and rain, the Stolls drawing marker pen graffiti all over Clovis' face and Lou Ellen turning the cheese ball in front of her into a moving and squealing ginger pig.

Will sat down with an umph in the seat next to Nico, Lou Ellen on his other side. He was clearly relieved to be sitting down again. As Will and Lou-Ellen started to talk animatedly about the function of said ginger pig, Nico sat twirling his skull ring back and forth on his finger, finding refuge in the familiar action. Nico couldn't understand why, but he had a feeling this meeting wasn't going to go well.

The demigods had failed to notice the arrival of Chiron, so his stomping on the wooden floor quickly sent the group into silence.

"Ok everyone. Now some of you may be aware of the events last night and those preceding that -" Nico wondered what Chrion meant by that, what events?

"- but we're here to clarify details and hopefully find some meaning from all of this. Now let's look back over the last week at some of the events, Annabeth can you elaborate?" Annabeth picked up a sturdy looking notebook that she had most likely taken notes in and flipped to the relevant page, Percy rolling his eyes at her antics.

"So back on Monday, I noticed that thetemperature was low -" Clarisse scoffed at this and continued to carve what Nico thought was a bazooka into the table.

"-I know, the low temperature seemed irrelevant at the time but then with the next coming days I think that it adds up to give us a clue as to what's happening. On Wednesday, I noticed that the sky was overcast and we later had a huge thunder storm and while this might seem irrelevant yet again, I was actually quite alarmed by this, because the clouds were reaching beyond the camp's borders and as we all now, this should be impossible."

"Well apart from the time that Zeus threw a hissy because he thought I stole his master bolt." Thunder rumbled through the ground and Percy looked up at the sky.

"What? It's true!" Annabeth ignored Percy as normal and carried on.

"And this morning Inoticed that the ground was frosty and it lingered even after the sun rose and this is definitely abnormal in August."

Clarisse once again snorted at Annabeth and gave up on her masterpiece to give Annabeth a judgemental stare.

"Since when were you a meteorologist?" Everyone looked at Clarisse in shock.

"What? I know big words."

"The point is, that paired with what happened last night, this creates quite a mystery."

"What exactly happened last night?" Jason quizzed, casting a questioning look towards Will's bandage.

"Will, Nico, would you care to explain?"

Nico looked to Will to see if he was going to tell the others about their exciting adventure and then thought better of it, glancing to his bandage.

"Uhhh, well we were walking back through the forest from capture the flag and basically we were attacked by this huge, insect thing -"

"Collosal centipede." Will interjected, doing the widest hand gestures he could manage.

"Echidna really went all out on that one." Nico ignored him and carried on.

"But yeah we killed it, Will got hurt, he got better, now we're here." A moment of silence followed Nico's speech before the room before questions were fired around the room along with a loud shout from Clovis as he woke up from his dream before falling back asleep again.

"Everyone settle down, we need to discuss this seriously because I'm at a loss as to what in the Gods' names it was doing in our forest."

"So you didn't stock it in the forest?" Jason quizzed as he fiddled with his glasses. Chiron shook his head.

"Sounds like the Scholopendra."

Everyone turned towards Lou Ellen in confusion.

"Scallop what?" Percy said, his expression seeming very unimpressed.

"Scholopendra. It's a centipede like Will said, but very venomous, very big and very nasty. Plus it's not actually an insect because it doesn't have six legs." Annabeth shook her head in confusion.

"I've never heard of this creature before."

"Yeah, I think it was pretty uncommon back in ancient Greece, but the myths originate from the northern regions of Greece with cooler climates."

"Which links back to our earlier point." Chiron interjected.

"Thank you Lou Ellen. So the colder climate could be the reasoning for this sudden appearance of this monster, but how did it get past the camp's barriers? It would have to have been summoned by someone with great power." Nico's brain was reeling, why would anyone want that crazy monster at camp?

"I think I have an idea who it could be." Jason said, his tone grim. He looked to Piper who shared a grim expression, she gave him a single nod in agreement.

"Khione. It would make sense, she despises demigods and probably wants revenge after what happened with Gaea." The room fell silent yet again, a chill seemed to roll across the floor.

"So... What do we do?" Percy asked. Chiron stroked his beard, his brain piecing together the evidence.

"Ok, so I think our next step is, although I know some of you will dislike it, a quest." The room erupted as people shouted, Clarisse throwing her carving knife threateningly close to Chiron and Percy threatening to leave after uttering a few Greek expletives only sitting back in his seat after being pulled down by Annabeth. Chiron had to bang his hoof against the floor five times to get their attention again.

"I know this is not what we want to hear -"

"But we've just had a war Chrion." Katie Gardiner interrupted, looking distraught.

"I know Katie, but we have no other way of reaching the Goddess. And I think that the Snow Goddess may just be the start of our problems."

"Great, so not even a week after the war against freaking Mother earth herself, we have a quest. I'm sorry but no thank you! I've done my fair share of quests." Percy demanded looking to Annabeth for support.

"Percy's right, we're all still recovering from the war, there's no way someone would -"

"I'll do it." Nico turned in horror to the person who had said it. Will Solace looked grim but had a slight smile on his face as though he were looking forward to getting viciously killed.

"Will, why in Hades would you say that? You've never even been on a quest before." Will shot Nico a look that poorly disguised his hurt. Guilt washed through Nico, he hadn't meant to upset Will, he just didn't want him getting hurt.

"I'm sure I can manage Nico. Besides, I didn't really fight in the war, so I might as well do what I can to save the camp now." A fire was burning in the depths of Will's bright blue eyes, he was going to go through with this no matter what anyone else said. Nico sighed in resignation and sat back in his chair, twirling his skull ring frantically and ignoring the stares from the others.

"Well if Will's going, Cecil and I will go. The three musketeers right?" Lou Ellen questioned, a strange feeling grabbed Nico's insides, restricting his breathing. Will glanced to Nico but then settled back on Lou Ellen's gaze.

"Sure thing Lou, the original trio." The feeling inside Nico grew, crushing his insides and almost causing him to double over, he realised that what he felt now was betrayal, but that was absurd, why did he feel betrayed? Of course Will would choose his best friends of many years over Nico. Who could trust the creepy death kid anyway?

Chiron considered the situation, before addressing everyone present.

"Are we all in agreement?" Nobody spoke out, so Chiron nodded and stomped his hoof.

"Alright then, Will, Lou Ellen and Cecil will go on a quest to find the Goddess Khione and find out what is happening. You should go to consult the oracle Will, to find guidance on your quest. Hopefully this will answer any questions." Nico swore he heard Percy mutter "Yeah right."

"Right then, everyone back to normal activities, Will come and speak to me about the quest and Lou Ellen, go and fetch Cecil for me?" With that, the demigods dispersed and Nico hurried out of the room, the earlier feeling of despair dampened by his rapidly forming plan in his head. He knew what to do.


	8. 8 - Will

**AN: First of all, sorry for the gap in updates, I've had huge writer's block and my first assignment so it's been a bit crazy. But anyway, I have a bit of a head canon that whilst Nico likes Fall out boy and all other kind of rocky music, Will really likes uplifting music like trance, so here's a newly discovered one for me that's pretty cool, not entirely relevant but I'll tie them into the chapters a bit better later on. So song of the chapter is Belong by Axwell and Shapov. Thanks for being patient, we will be settingoff on the quest very soon, I promise! But anyway hope you enjoy!**

 **Pheebs out.**

 **Chapter 8 - Cecil knows style**

 **Will's POV**

Going on a quest was definitely not on Will's to do list today. But here he was, dragging his friends into Gods knows what kind of danger. Will was currently walking up to Rachel's cave, after explaining the meetings events to Cecil and leaving him and Lou Ellen back at camp. Apparently Rachel's cave gave Cecil the 'Heeby-Jeebies' so he elected to heroically stay behind, which Will could partly sympathise with. However, as the team leader of the quest, he thought if he was creeped out by some cave, then he had little right to lead a quest to save the world. As Will scaled the hill overlooking the beach, he spotted the eery, emerald green fire torches in the distance, barely lighting the entrance to the cave. The fact that they were on filled Will with a small amount of hope. At least Rachel was in.

Will was feeling abnormally nervy and it took him a while to work out why. He had grown used to sharing his feelings and thoughts with Nico this past week, and despite the short space of time that had occurred in, Will felt as thought his chest were empty as he glanced to the empty space beside him. Why had he been so rude in front of everyone? His comments definitely didn't boost Will's confidence in himself. Maybe this was a mistake, maybe Nico was right. Well, too late to turn back now.

Will reached the mouth of the cave, it's roof almost scraping his head forcing him to walk with his head held diagonally. The low entrance eventually tapered off into a spacious area, sparkling with various geodes and murals (courtesy of Rachel). Will was admiring a mural of a chicken-horse (of course), when Rachel rounded a corner near the back of the cave, shocking Will and causing him to let out an embarrassingly high pitched scream. Rachel was equally shocked, letting out her own scream in return before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"Will, Gods. You can't do that to me! You nearly got covered in paints." She brandished the paint pots in her hands menacingly as though they could be a weapon.

"Sorry Rachel. How's cave life treating you?" Will teased. He and the Oracle had spoken often before, as Rachel would sometimes join the Apollo cabin as an honorary guest at the mess hall.

"Not bad, not bad. I was just trying to get this stupid maths work done." She gestured to a barely visible paper on the desk that was buried under paints and brushes.

"How come you're holding paints now then?" Will asked with a smirk.

"Because I was procrastinating, alright?! Now what brings you here at this fine hour?"

"It's morning Rachel, it's not an unreasonable time. But anyway, I'm here because... I'm going on a quest." Will had to pause half way through as he processed what he was about to say. He still couldn't believe he was actually doing this. What in Zeus's name had gotten into him?

"You. You're going on a quest. Will Solace, 'bottom of fighting class because he doesn't want to hurt anything'. Why in the Gods' name would you-?" Rachel's tirade was starting to rattle Will. He wasn't completely soft. He could fight if he needed to.

"I don't know ok. Maybe I wanted to actually fight up front for once and not hide in the infirmary. Maybe I wanted to prove myself as cabin councillor. Or maybe, I felt like it needed to be me. Who knows, but here we are. So could I have a prophecy please?" Will finished his rant in a huff, realising that it was probably unfair to explode like that at Rachel, but not really caring all that much at the time. He'd had enough of people thinking he was weak.

"Ok ok. Sorry Will, I didn't mean it like that, I was just surprised." Will gave her a small smile in acceptance to show he wasn't that affected by it.

"But yeah I'll try my best. Prophecies don't always work like that. I have to be in the zone first. Clear my head fully and -" Rachel stopped mid sentence, her eyes glowing an eery green that was scarily similar to the Greek fire torches in the entrance.

"So much for being in the zone." Will muttered. Green smoke unfurled from her mouth and wrapped around Will, the voices of prophecy sliding up against him, feeling like icicles were being drawn across his skin. The confused voices spoke simultaneously, their message getting jumbled as Will attempted to tune in to just one. His brain had just about had enough when the voices shifted to form a single form, the oracle of Delphi. Her words sounded like the furies claws scraping down celestial bronze.

Four must succeed before Equinox's last hour,

Only great loss will unlock true power,

An old foe from death returned,

Secrets long kept are finally burnt.

Alone at first, both will fail,

But paired as one, light and darkness prevail.

The green wisps shuddered before slithering back towards Rachel and seeping back into her mouth. The glow from her eyes dimmed and she started to sag. Luckily she had been near her desk, so she managed to balance herself without Will's aid. The reason that Will hadn't helped her was because he was frozen. Of course not literally, but his neurones were refusing to respond to his commands. Rachel composed herself and stood upright, giving Will a 'tell me everything' glare.

"So that was..." Will struggled to find the appropriate word. What had it been? Had he found 'Guidance'? Or was he just even more confused. Will decided to settle on a safe, if slightly vague option.

"- . Disjointed. Well I better get going now. Quests to complete, world's to save. You know, the usual. I'll see you after." Will turned to leave the dark and foreboding room, the 'Heeby-Jeebies' finally starting to settle in.

"If you don't die." Rachel added with only a hint of mirth in her expression. Will turned back giving her a bemused smirk.

"Thanks Rachel, very positive thinking." Will sassed back, pretending that she was messing with him instead of using her prophetic powers to see his quest's outcome.

"See you soon." Rachel waved good bye as Will made a hasty retreat from the cave, excited to feel the sun on his skin once more.

The prophecy bounced around in Will's head as he walked back towards the green. He pondered all of the different meanings of the words, tossing them back and forth in his mind. Why couldn't his dad have made prophecies of doom easy to understand? Lots of death would be avoided if he did. After mentally listing as many curses relating to his father as he could manage, Will decided that it would probably be more productive to share the unsettling poem with Cecil and Lou Ellen, hoping that it might help him to make sense of it. He stopped in his tracks as he realised that the space he had left them was now empty, where had they got to? Will reflected on past situations and decided that in order to find those two, it was best to think of where they could cause the most trouble and follow suit. The camp seemed empty, with most people in classes at this time of day, but Will could hear swords clanging in the distance along with a particularly distinctive voice screaming orders.

"You swing that sword like you mean it! Or else I'll show you just how well an Ares kid can use one."

"Follow the trouble." Will muttered to himself before setting off towards the arena.

Clarisse was an easy target for these two, often too preoccupied with shouting at unfortunate campers to notice the mischievous pair pilfering through her items. Plus they seemed to love her reactions. So Will was not at all surprised to find Lou Ellen and Cecil positioned a short distance behind the daughter of Ares (who was still shouting at the campers), with Cecil reaching his hand seruptitiously towards Clarisse's electric spear, 'Maimer '. Will decided that it was probably best to intervene before the two were caught, so he approached carefully behind them, making as little noise as possible. He drew up behind them and lightly tapped Cecil on the shoulder, hoping to get his attention. He got his attention alright. Cecil jumped so hard that he grabbed the electrified end of the spear, proceeding to electrocute himself before falling to the floor in a steaming heap.

"Oh for Hades sake." Will muttered as Clarisse wheeled around, recognising the snap of energy that was still ringing through the arena. Her eyes gleamed with fury, so Will thought he should probably try to be diplomatic and sort this mess out.

"Right, sorry about these two Clarisse. Again. But anyway, I need to discuss questly things with them, so we'll be leaving now." Will proceeded to grab Lou Ellen's elbow and Cecil's ankle, dragging them both out of the arena with Cecil muttering incoherently on the floor.

"I smell bananas. Bananas are great. Can I have a banana?"

Depositing the two in a heap, they stopped at the canoe lake to discuss the situation. Fortunately Cecil had sorted out his banana obsession by this point, so Will guessed that he was feeling less electrocuted now.

"Ok, so the first line doesn't make any sense." Lou Ellen speculated, gaining an incredulous look from Cecil.

"Uh, yeah it does. The equinox is this Friday. It means that we have to complete the quest before midnight."

"WE ONLY HAVE SEVEN DAYS?!" Will was not feeling optimistic about this. Lou Ellen interrupted Will before he could start throwing around expletives.

"That's not my point 'Banana man'. I meant as in why four? There's three of us so why would the prophecy say four of us go on the quest?" Will didn't have an answer for this, he considered their options and settled on the most reasonable one.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see. We've chosen our quest mates, if the fates think four people should go on the quest, then I'm sure we'll meet up with them at some point." Cecil and Lou Ellen nodded to each other as though they were impressed that Will was making sense.

"True powers found though, that sounds pretty cool." Lou Ellen speculated, probably deciding whether it'd be cool or not if she could transform herself into a pig.

"Ignoring the 'found through loss' bit, yeah. But that could literally mean anything." Will suggested, eager to get off the subject. When he had first heard the line his skin had started to crawl as though an army of ants were marching across his body.

"So the next line, an old foe returned from death. That sounds ominous." They considered the wording, before Cecil interjected.

"It could be a number of people really. We've made a few foes over the last seven years." Lou Ellen rolled her eyes and gave Cecil a none-too gentle shove.

"That narrows things done then." Will sassed, the stress of not understanding the prophecy getting to him.

"The next line, about secrets." Cecil suggested, was it Will's imagination or did he cast a sideways glance at Will. Did he know?

"Yeah again, could be anything. We'll just have to wait and see what the quest throws at us." Cecil definitely glanced at Will this time, catching his eye before carrying on with the prophecy. Looking like a guilty kid caught rummaging through the cookie jar. What was he hiding?

"But what's with this lightness and darkness thing? Sounds like that mortal book about sparkly vampires." Lou Ellen made a gagging gesture at the sound of the book. Despite the other's jesting, a feeling of unease found its home in Will's gut once again. He had a theory about that line, but he was praying to all of the Gods that he was wrong.

"I don't know guys, but at least we've worked some of this out. We know our deadline now and we also know we're facing someone apart from Khione."

"Yippee." Cecil muttered.

"Right. Well, seen as we're done here, you guys better go apologise to Clarisse before another cabin war breaks out. Gods you guys, the Stolls would be disappointed in their proteges, you need to sort your game out."

Luckily, taking on a quest meant that Will was excused from camp activities so that he could "prepare" as Chiron had said. At this point, Will had started to seriously question his sanity. Rachel was right, he wasn't a fighter. He was a healer and he would never escape that. Going on a quest to defeat a snow goddess and another scary unknown enemy definitely would not change that. Will had begun to pack his things, piling spare shirts, pants, shoes, food and most importantly; medical supplies into his magical rucksack from Lou Ellen. When handing over the bag, she had made a reference to a film called Mary Poppins and her 'never-ending bag' but the reference was lost on Will, he hadn't watched many films as a kid. Will was almost too scared to ask what the others had packed. Probably various objects for pilfering and maybe even a pig (Lou Ellen would probably find a way).

Due to his time off from activities, Will had the cabin all to himself at the moment which was definitely a rare moment. He loved his siblings, but 20 people practicing music at the same time was enough to make anyone's ears bleed. Will usually would have welcomed the silence, but today it made the cabin feel empty. The golden walls dimmer and the shadows in the room looming larger than before, almost as if the light were bleeding from the room. A shudder ran down Will's spine at the thought, children of Apollo didn't mix with darkness.

"Not according to the prophecy." Will muttered to himself, peeved about the line. 'Light and darkness prevail', now this may have been induced by Will's earlier head injury, but he swore he knew what that line meant and he didn't like it one bit. Curiosity began to flare inside of him like a greedy fire, consuming all the cells in his body. Should he try and do it? The last time he did that-

"Oh Apollo's golden bulls! Just do it Will. It's not like you'll blow up the cabin or anything." Will trailed off nervously. He extended his hand palm up with his fingers splayed.

Ordinarily Will would have felt like a complete idiot, but he was determined to find out. He needed to know. He felt a warmth settled in his chest that had always been there, swelling in size until it reached his extremities and made them tingle. The heat built steadily, and with it so did the light surrounding Will. His skin seemed almost pearlescent, drowning out the shadows in the room. Sweat beading on his head, Will attempted to channel the light flooding from his body to his outstretched hand, straining to pull the light away from his other limbs despite the energy's fighting, trying to remain all over. With a snap, Will brought the light flooding to his hand. The tendrils of bright white curling off his palm and snaking from his fingertips, longing to extinguish the shadows of this pathetic room. Will could feel his heart racing in his chest, his breathing had increased significantly. He was excited.

An energy laying dormant inside Will had been awoken and longed to spread it's wings. Will gave in to the power and let his light flood the room. The walls disappeared in a flash of white, blotting out all of Will's surroundings until he thought he was on Olympus itself. Will could still feel unreleased energy inside of him, yearning to escape, to burn through his limbs.

He was about to give in to the temptation when a loud rap on the cabin's door brought Will out of his stupor. Will snapped his hand closed and the light was sucked out of the room, leaving no scraps of evidence behind.

"What the -" Will heard a knock on the door again and Cecil's muffled voice calling to him through the door slat.

"Will? You ok man? Will? Do I need to break this door down, because I will if you need me to. It won't take long, let me just find some C4 real quick, it won't take -" Will opened the door before any harm could befall the cabin.

"Cecil, chill. I'm fine. Also why in Hera's name do you have C4? Wouldn't that be a bit drastic for wood?" Will questioned whilst ushering his friend inside his cabin. Will was feeling quite conflicted about Cecil's interruption. He had wanted to delve as far as he could into his powers, but he didn't know what that would mean or what it might do.

"If you're fine, then what the heck was that light show I just saw!?" Will was stunned into silence. He should have known that the cabin's blinds wouldn't confine that energy.

"Wh- wha-? I don't know what you mean Cec, you sure you're feeling ok? I could check you over quick and see if you're recovered from your earlier electrocution." Will rambled, hoping that Cecil would drop the subject.

"Nah man. I know what I saw, more like got blinded by! What happened Will?" Cecil demanded, clearly in a flap. Will was still feeling shaky from the entire experience and he noticed with alarm that residual light still clung to some areas of his body, giving him an almost angelic aura if you looked close enough.

Will was freaking out big time, not because he had just become the world's first 'human glow-stick', but because of what it meant. He was a light bender. The first Apollo child to possess the power in aeons, with it being gifted to only the strongest of warriors. Will wanted to laugh and cry in exasperation. He was no great warrior, but apparently the fates thought differently. Will broke out of his spell of self-discovery and gazed to Cecil, completely forgetting that he was present. He decided that he should probably try and deter Cecil from the topic, feeling as though he couldn't discuss the big scary secret at the moment. It could wait for another day.

"Um I dunno. But, hey Cecil. What brings you to Cabin 7? Quest doesn't start till 2." Luckily Cecil took the bait, either his own queries taking priority over his curiosity or he was respecting Will's privacy.

"Well, it's about the quest actually. I was thinking that we're gonna need some kind of transport aren't we?" Will's mouth flopped open. How could he have forgotten.

"Oh schist." Will muttered.

"No need to fear! You forget that one of your team members is the child of the god of travel. I'll arrange a lift off dad somehow." Will relaxed, and nodded.

"I thought our quest was doomed then Cec. Thanks for your help. Do I want to know how your dad gets said lift? Plus I don't know about you, but I've never driven anything in my life bar the chariot." Cecil snorted derisively, obviously finding Will amusing.

"First of all, probably not knowing you. And yet again, luckily for you you have a child of Hermes on the quest. Driving's a piece of cake." Taking a moment to consider his answer, Will considered his options which were very limited at the moment.

"Fine, just don't kill us Cec. We need to stay alive so that we can defeat this undead foe." Will muttered, his optimism starting to fizzle out. Cecil nodded mutely and joined Will in silence.

"Hey Will, speaking of the quest and all that. How come you didn't ask Nico to go with us?" Cecil queried with a barely hidden smirk. Will's brain stumbled after his mouth, trying to form a comprehensible answer.

"Wuh - Uh - Well. He didn't think that I could do it. Also Lou had already volunteered and I couldn't leave out my best buds could I?" Will felt as though he had fallen into a pit trap, would Cecil notice that Will had deliberately separated his relationship with Nico from them? Would he guess Will's feelings?

"Hmmm. Yeah don't give me that crap Will, I know you love us and all bit that's not it. What's the real answer." Will knew that he wouldn't get away with this, so he relented and confided in Cecil.

"I'm scared Cec. He's only just come back from his last quest. Plus he almost dissipates into smoke whenever he even thinks about using his powers. Why would I put him in a situation where I know he'd have to use them? I could never forgive myself." Will felt his face scrunching up as he bit his lip. He couldn't bear to look at Cecil, scared to see his reaction.

"Will that's understandable -" Will looked up to Cecil, his form slightly blurred by unshed tears. A small smile broke across his face as he realised that Cecil was a really great friend.

"- You're a healer Will. You'll never want to harm people. It's just who you are. But don't you think you should let Nico decide for himself? I personally think you guys make a pretty good team." Will looked up from his lap again to see Cecil with a cheeky smirk on his face, Will could sense the double meaning in his words. Will rolled his eyes, a small smile starting to stretch across his face.

"Thanks Cec. What would I do without you?" Will said, punching his arm affectionately.

"Well, probably get into much less trouble. And probably have more normal friends, but I'm here for ya man. Anyway, I'll leave you to your packing then and confer with dad about acquiring a vehicle." Cecil slipped out of the cabin, his small strides seeming to imitate a cat burglars sneaking behaviour. Will rolled his eyes again at his weird friend and continued to pack, his powers forgotten for the moment.

Two o'clock came much too quickly from Will's liking. He had only just finished packing his things when Lou Ellen had come bounding into his cabin demanding he got 'his ass in gear'. Before taking heed of Lou Ellen's command, Will went to visit his siblings, saying goodbye and also making sure that someone responsible was in charge of the cabin. He didn't need to come home to find that they had all been throwing parties in the cabin (it had happened before). After a few emotional farewells and various threats containing the phrase 'Don't die', Will proceeded to make his way to half blood hill. As he trecked back from the lake where the Apollo cabin had been learning water combat (of course), Will found his gaze travelling towards cabin 13, hope and despairing forcing him to search the cabin for any sign of movement. He had been trying to track the son of Hades down all day to speak with him, but he had managed to hide from him so far. He was starting to worry by this point and had asked Jason to keep an eye out for him, just in case he had decided to do something stupid, which was highly probable in Nico's case.

Will tore his gaze away from the cabin, giving up hope as he reached the crest of the hill. He found his quest mates and Chiron waiting for him whilst making quiet conversation, Will hoped that he didn't have to tell Chrion about their prophecy of doom, he wanted to move on from it and get this quest done. He felt ready.

Chiron paced the hill, ruining the grass beneath himto the point where Will thought a dryad would come and start beating him with a stick. He was obviously feeling anxious, so Will decided to try and spur them all on with his amazing positivity.

"Hey guys, no fear for the almighty son of Apollo has arrived to lead this dastardly quest of death." They all tuned to him with equal looks of incredulity, amusing Will slightly. Chiron was the first to snap out of the spell, shaking his head before addressing him.

"Will, can we speak?" Chiron began to walk a short distance from the pine tree, obviously wanting a private conversation. Will followed suit, carefully steering clear of his back hooves (he had seen the damage caused by horse kicks). Once they had stopped, Will turned to Chiron hoping for some insight as to why he had requested a private audience. His face had seemed to darken, the wrinkles deepening and his brow furrowing, Will had never seen Chiron look so old.

"Will, I want you to know before you leave. You may not be the best in combat, you may not have inherited your father's skills with the bow or his musical talents -" Will was starting feel affronted at this point.

"Um, thanks Chiron." Chiron gave him a look, that seemed to say 'let me finish'.

"-But, you are undoubtedly the best healer that his camp has ever had. Your ability to cope under pressure and your quick decision making have helped you to gain command in the infirmary at such a young age. This is why I know that you will excel in the quest." Warmth ignited in Will's chest at the compliment. He opened his mouth to speak but Chiron gave him another stern look to stop him.

"You need to make sure that you make it back from this quest Will Solace. We need you so desperately at camp, I fear what would happen without your presence." Chiron knew that he was reflecting on the loss of Leo and Will decided that even if this centaur was many millenia years old and he was his tutor, he should comfort him. He raised a hand and patted his flank, whilst giving a small smile.

"I'll try my best. Thank you Chiron. And thank you for supporting me over the years, I know it's been interesting at times." Chiron snorted in amusement.

"But I wouldn't have gotten where I am today without you. You've always been there for me, even when I had no-one and I can never repay you for that." Will looked up to find Chiron had grown misty eyed, although he managed to conceal it very well. Chiron gave Will one last smile, before setting his face in a stony expression.

"We better get you off on your adventure."

When they returned to Cecil and Lou Ellen, Will failed to contain his laughter.

"What the heck is that?!"

Sitting at the base of the hill was an orange, rust covered four by four that looked like it was from the 80s at least. Cecil shuffled his feet and shot Will an indignant look.

"It works and that's all that matters." Lou Ellen snickered at Cecil's defensive answer.

"Are you sure it works? I think we might fall though it if we sit on it."

"Oi! Stop it you two. This is our lift, deal with it. Come on let's go."

Despite his earlier claims to driving legendary, Lou Ellen booted Cecil out of the driver's seat as soon as they got in the car.

"Uh, no way am I letting you drive. I'd prefer not to be dead thank you." And with that, they set off down the lane leading away from the strawberry fields, with the pine tree and the pacing centaur fading into the distance. They had only been driving for about three minutes when the first problem struck. Said problem materialised out of the shadows of the door frame, falling neatly into the backseat beside Will before buckling up his seatbelt.

"Who's ready to kick some butt?" Nico di Angelo said.

 **AN: Well that was long. Sorry for that, but we're finally on the quest woooo!! Sorry for the lack of solangelo but I had to set the scene and get these guys ready. Hope you enjoyed, I'll try my best with updates but I have quite a few assignments at the mo so it could be a little while.**


	9. 9 - Nico

**AN: Hey everyone, we're finally on the quest wooo!! Hope you're all enjoying it so far. Song of the chapter is New Divide by Linkin Park (I've only recently discovered these guys and I absolutely love their stuff!! So sad about Chester). Anyway, hope you enjoy it,**

 **From your friendly neighbourhood fanfic writer (hehe).**

 **Chapter 9 - Ghost king at your service**

 **Nico's POV**

Nico was aware that there were way too many gaps in his plan, but he didn't really care at that moment. All he knew was that he wasn't about to let Will out of his sight, especially to go on a deadly quest. Nico had already lost too many people in his miserable and short life (well, ignoring his time in the lotus hotel). He wasn't prepared for his Dad to claim anyone else he cared about.

He had packed his things shortly after the meeting, quickly dodging Jason's attempts at conversation as he darted from the room. He didn't have time to come up with believable excuses, so he decided that avoiding people would be his best option. He hadn't packed many things in his bag, only a few spare clothes and some food and water. He had secured his sheathed stygian sword to his jeans, it's familiar chilling aura quelling his nerves slightly. The black onyx sheath of his sword seemed to blend seamlessly into his skinny jeans , remaining hidden until he shifted his posture slightly.

After packing his things, Nico shadow-travelled to Thalia's pine tree, reclining into the shadows of the branches and laying in wait for the quest members. Nico sat there for hours, passing the time by picking sections of bark on the tree, hoping Thalia wouldn't somehow find out and barbeque him for it. He sat with one leg crossed over the thick branch and the other dangling over the 50 foot drop, his heel bouncing against the trunk rhythmically. Regret nawed at him from the loss of his aviator jacket as the icy winds tore into his skin, his black leather jacket not standing up to the job.

Nico knew the penalties of sneaking away from camp, but he honestly couldn't give a schist. Percy had gotten away with it before. Besides, he felt as though he needed to go on this quest. Whether it was a God being helpful for once and giving him guidance or just his internal compass of doom, Nico knew that he had to go, no matter what anyone said. Especially Will.

He found himself reluctantly reflecting on the meeting and the horrible look that Will gave him before accepting Lou Ellen's offer. Hurt clouding his beautiful blue eyes, but a firm barrier in place so that no-one would ever know Will's true feelings. He was even better than Nico at putting up a Façade. At least with Nico he always looked as though he were brooding, no matter what his mood, but Will was something else. Nico shook his head, annoyed at himself for spacing out. It didn't matter what Will thought, Nico would still go on the quest (wanted or not) and protect his sorry ass.

Movement stirred underneath Nico, muffled bickering voices drifting up through the tree branches along with the slam of car doors. Nico peered over the edge to find an orange rusty pick-up truck driving off along the main road out of camp.

"Oh Hades." He jumped from the branch, melting into their shadows a second before impact and focused on his goal.

Ignoring his short travel in capture the flag, Nico hadn't used his powers since nearly melting into a puddle of shadows during the war, and he could safely say that his doctor had been right. He was nowhere near ready to use them yet. The darkness stabbed into his limbs, the cold sapping his strength and making it feel like he was walking through freezing treacle. The voices pulled at him, whispering grim secrets that Nico knew were true, so he would bury them deep in his subconscious. The darkness dragged the painful thoughts out.

 _You get what you deserve._

 _Liar._

 _Outcast._

 _Evil._

 _Murderer._

 _You get what you deserve._

This voices screamed their mantra silently, making Nico wince. He squared himself, setting his jaw and carried on through the dark, getting closer to his exit. He could feel Will's warmth ahead and that thought kept him going. He carried on, ignoring the accusing voices, justifying himself half-heartedly as he continued. He didn't want to be a liar, he just couldn't face the truth. He wasn't a murderer, he hadn't meant to kill Bryce. But he knew deep in his gut that he was all of these things and more. He was evil.

He broke out of the shadows, the sudden bustle of voices and warmth from the sun calming him instantly. He reclined back into the seat, briefly glancing to check if he was in the right car and buckled his seat belt. Nico smirked, not able to contain it when seeing Will's look of shock and confusion, he couldn't resist adding a sassy comment.

"Who's ready to kick some butt?"

Nico was not ready for their reaction. Everyone screamed in alarm at the sudden presence of another person in their car, with Lou Ellen slamming the brakes on so hard that they were all thrown forwards. Unfortunately Cecil had yet to do up his seatbelt so he ended up smacking his head against the windshield. Nico laughed slightly, a small smile breaking though on his face.

"Come on guys, I'm not that scary. I know son of Hades and all that, but I'm still a demigod. Nothing to be -"

"Nico, what in Zeus' name were you thinking of?!" The smile fell off of Nico's face slowly, Will's words shattering his earlier mirth.

"What do you mean? I wasn't aiming for this truck, I was just trying to get a happy meal." Lou Ellen and Cecil chuckled from the front before falling silent when Will shot them an annoyed glare. He turned to Nico, no doubt to rant but Nico quickly interrupted him, determined to get his point across.

"I'm coming on the quest, isn't it obvious? Seeing as you didn't invite me, I decided to invite myself."

"So you just invited yourself? Why go to all the trouble." Nico fumbled for an answer, not wanting to admit his real reason.

 _Liar!_

The voices lingered inside him, making him shiver. He ignored it and carried on with the argument.

"What's the big deal Will? Why are you upset? I thought maybe you just didn't invite me because you wanted to go with your friends, but maybe it's more than that. You don't trust me do you? And here I was thinking I wouldn't have to worry about that with you."

 _Outcast_!

The voices rose up in his body, making his hairs stand on end. He had started to melt into the seats shadow, preparing to travel back to his cabin where he could sulk in peace. Will's next comment shocked him into the light.

"There's a reason I didn't invite you!" Will admitted, immediately looking ashamed and seeming to shrink from his normal, tall stature. What was he hiding?

"What's your reason then Sunshine? What are you talking about." Will blushed at the nickname and despite the situation Nico's insides flared at the acknowledgement.

"I - Uh - Well, it's a quest. You're supposed to have three people on a quest otherwise it goes to Hades. You know that. It's tempting the fates if we go against the laws of prophecy."

"Uh, technically we're not." Cecil said, peeling himself off of the windshield and turning to face Will with a meaningful look. Will was about to protest, no doubt to rant about Nico some more and how irresponsible he was, but Cecil butted in.

"As in, the prophecy said 'Four must succeed' in the first line, didn't it?" Will nodded grudgingly. Lou Ellen had pulled the car over and stopped to make sure they weren't in any unnecessary accidents. She turned around to face Cecil with her mouth open in understanding.

"Oh I get you. Nico's the fourth guy. Well, welcome to the quest Neeks." Lou Ellen uttered giving a mocking salute before turning around to drive again.

Nico glanced towards Will, wondering how he would take this. Nico was shocked with Will's reaction, finding him biting his bottom lip and frowning as though he'd just been forced to watch a zombie regenerate (and Nico knew for a fact that was not a pretty sight). In other words, he looked nervous. Nico expected a look of disapproval, possibly even rage (admittedly it would probably take a lot to make Will that angry), but not worry.

"Hey, you ok Solace?" Nico wasn't normally one to pry in personal and potentially awkward situations, but the seriousness on Will's face was unnerving him.

"Hmm? Yeah I'm fine don't worry. Besides, you're the one who's sweating like a Cyclops." Nico was about to protest when he realised that his shirt collar was drenched with sweat, his forehead starting to bead with it as well. Nico wiped off his forehead in disgust.

"Yeah I'm fine, just had a bit of a tricky journey here." Nico said with a straight face, his eyes telling a completely different story.

Will narrowed his eyes and drew his mouth into a line, his concern and disapproval obvious. He leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs straight out so that his feet went underneath Cecil's chair, before flopping back into the seat. Nico was sure he had been a cat in a past life.

"I'm sorry I didn't invite you Nico. I know that wasn't fair of me. I just didn't want you to get hurt again, especially after the war." Nico wanted to add that it wasn't just the war, but he restrained himself. Will didn't need to know that.

"I didn't want to put you in that situation again so soon after you almost got yourself killed." Will looked down at his feet, still sticking under Cecil's chair despite his bent legs. Nico noticed that Lou Ellen and Cecil had started to make small talk in the front, giving the two of them privacy (whether that was deliberate or not, Nico didn't know).

Nico drew in a deep breath and turned to Will, reaching out his hand to lift his face. Will obliged and stared into Nico's eyes, trying to read his reaction.

"You can't protect me from things like this Will. We're demigods, it's what we do." Nico spoke softly, as he used to when trying to cheer Bianca up back at the high school when the kids teased them about their absentee parents. Will nodded, the corner of his mouth pulling up in a small smile.

"Besides I was getting a bit bored at camp anyway. I need to go stab some real targets." Will laughed nervously at the change in tone and gave him a slightly scared look.

"You know you're quite scary right?"

"I embrace it." Nico said with a smirk, settling back into his chair and listening in on Cecil and Lou Ellen's conversation about their favourite cheese.

They had been driving for about four hours when they realised their mistake. Will shot up on his seat, grabbing the seat in front to bring him forward, making Cecil jump and shout in alarm.

"Holy bejeebus, don't do that Will."

"Sorry Cec. But I just realised, where are we actually going?" Everyone turned to Lou Ellen, hoping for an answer.

"I've just been following this highway, don't look at me. Ask travel-boy there, this is his area of expertise." After consulting with Cecil, who had somehow managed to keep track of their location using a severely outdated map he had found in the glove-compartment of the car (Nico was highly suspicious that he had met the dead owners of this car before). Luckily, they realised that they had been travelling North all this time. They all guessed that since Khione was the Goddess of snow, she would be living somewhere up North that was cold and preferably had snow. Despite this, they still had no idea of where exactly the evil snow Queen would be hiding.

An idea struck Nico out of nowhere, why hadn't he though of it before?

"I know how to find her." Nico interjected into the current squabble between Cecil and Lou Ellen over the awesomeness, or unawesomeness in Lou Ellen's case, of snow. Will looked up from where he had been studying the map with his eyebrows raised.

"How do you know how to find a goddess?" Nico smirked at Will's doubtful expression.

"Let's just say I have my sources. But first, we need to go somewhere."

The group stood in a dishevelled manner, their hair messed up and clothes rumpled from the car ride to the nearest cemetery (which wasn't actually near at all). Their essential trip that Nico insisted on also didn't help with their time management, but Nico was persistent. So now they were standing around a grave that must have been at least 500 years old judging by the state of the lichen and moss. They had no idea who the grave belonged to because the writing had faded long before. Nico sat cross legged close to the pitted earth, rummaging through his happy meal box to find the fries (I nearly put chips haha) that had escaped the packet.

"You know there's plenty of fries still in the packet right?" Will questioned as he took a bite from his chicken legend, an eyebrow raised in disapproval. Nico narrowed his eyes at Will and continued to search for the stragglers. Cecil looked to Will with his mouth opened dramatically.

"Shame on you William. That would be a waste of this beautiful meal." Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at Ceciland gave him a none too gentle shove, almost sending his burger flying onto the grave.

"Why did we need to get McDonald's anyway? Not that I'm complaining. Also why in Hades are we eating it in a grave yard?!" Will stated after finishing off his legend, Nico never would have expected him to like McDonald's, pegging him as a health nut-job.

"Well, as you may have guessed from our settings, we are currently in the presence of the dead." Nico paused to glare at Cecil as he waved his fingers in imitation of a ghost, his mouth forming an o-shape. If that's what he thought a ghost looked like he was in for a shock.

"I'm going to summon a spirit to find out if they know anything about Khione." Lou Ellen and Cecil nodded in understanding, whilst Will sat with a severely judgemental look aimed at Nico.

"And we need McDonald's because..." He waved his hand for Nico to fill in the blank.

"I was hungry." Nico stated, shrugging and stuffing four fries in his mouth at once. Will was frozen in place, his mouth partly open and his eyebrows raised almost comically as though he were saying, Who invited this idiot along? Nico chuckled at Will, he couldn't resist giving his sarcastic answer and waiting for his reaction. He decided he should probably elaborate before Will sent him hiking back to camp.

"Summoning spirits also requires a small sacrifice. Normally I don't have to bother doing that anymore, but I thought with my power's threatening to send me into oblivion and all -" Cecil spat out his drink in a loud raspberry at that part, Nico wasn't sure if it was in shock or amusement.

"- it would probably be best to have a support mechanism." Will seemed to settle down with the more rational explanation, although he had seemed perturbed when Nico had nonchalantly discussed his encounter with death.

"Ghost king at your service." Nico muttered under his breath so that the others were oblivious, before setting about preparing for the ritual.

As a son of Hades, Nico had got used to his necromancing long ago and he often forgot that speaking to zombies and ghosts wasn't a normal part of someone's day. This was an example of one of those situations. Nico had been chanting the ancient Greek ritual to rise the desired ghost, throwing his last three fries into the grave. Will gave him a confused look.

"Only three? Is it worth it?" Nico rolled his eyes and paused his chanting breifly, turning away as the fries dissipated on the grave's surface.

"Of course. Even weak like this I could summon a dinasour, so don't push me Solace." Nico smirked to himself as he resumed his chanting. If only they knew how powerful I really am. Nico pondered to himself as he repeated the lines. Nico's chanting stumbled breifly when the wraiths voices shrieked in his ears.

 _Murderer!_

He paused to collect his thoughts before resuming the chant.

The Greek words flowed from his tongue, the words curling around him in familiarity as he was brought back to his days of travel with Minos through the labyrinth. A chill rolled down his spine, the bitter memories flowing back to him in waves.

A small hiss interrupted Nico's thoughts, snapping him back to the present. A spectral crack opened above the ground, as though a new layer of the earth had been exposed. The earth parted reluctantly with a sound like a block of granite being dragged mercilessly across concrete.

A skeletal hand broke free of the crevice, it's fingers decorated with dangling flesh digging into the edge and dragging itself from the void. Nico noticed that the others had stilled their conversations and both Lou Ellen and Cecil had decided to hide behind a green faced Will, who was looking equally scared. Cecil let out a heroic whimper as the ghost drew itself up.

If Nico had to guess, he would say that the ghost was from the 1800s, his torn and rotten clothes still holding their former, stiff grandeur even in death. The ghost swayed, as if he were drunk, his drooping eyes sunken into his round face and his thinning hair hidden under a rotting black top hat. The ghost burped loudly before swaying forwards into a shallow bow, his beer belly preventing him from going lower. As he swayed threateningly close to the ground, the ghost swung himself back and smirked sickeningly at Nico. This was going to be fun.

"At your service, your majesty." The ghost slurred. Despite his intoxicated state (no doubt which had caused his death), the ghost managed to remember the consequences of speaking improperly to royalty. Nico ignored the hard stares from his quest mates, they didn't know about his title. Nico blushed crimson and turned away from them to address the ghost.

"Uh right. What's your name?" Nico kept things short, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible. The ghost rolled to the left, his hat almost sliding from his head before he reached up a rotting hand to steady it.

"My name is Ronald MacFarland Sir. How may I help?" Nico had a ludicrous thought of Ronald asking the same thing as someone rolled through the drive-through of a McDonald's, he shook his head in annoyance. Stupid ADHD.

"Do you know anything about the snow goddess, Khione?"

MacFarland chortled and attempted to steady himself on his own head stone, apparently forgetting that he had no substance. His hand sank through the material and almost sent him tumbling to the ground before hebrqgined his balance.

"What's so funny?" Nico asked, giving him his best death glare. The ghost's laughter stumbled to a stop as he looked away from Nico and straightened his bow tie.

"Ooo, sorry Sir. I thought you would have known already, given that your father is Hades and all." Nico ground his teeth in annoyance, his jaw muscles tightening rapidly.

"Known what?" The ghost took a deep, unecessary breath to still his laughter.

"The ghosts are rising up in the underworld. The fields of punishment are empty, with the ghosts all matching up to your father's palace demanding for their lives." Nico's face begun to grow numb as he realised the implications of the ghost's words.

"What does this have to do with Khione?" Nicl asked, taking a threatening step towards the ghost.

"How should I know? But there have been a large number of deaths caused by hypothermia and frost bite recently, all originating from one area. Many innocents have suffered icy fates." The ghost said, his lip curling in satisfaction. Nico could feel his stomach turning with disgust, but he fought against it and pursued the information.

"Where is this?"

"North Dakota, Forks, I believe." Ronald said, before almost teetering backwards. Nico thought he heard Lou Ellen snickering something about Twilight in the background, but he didn't understand why it was funny.

"Although I'm surprised that you didn't already know this. Unless... Yes... if the rumours were true then that would explain -"

"What rumours?" Nico ground out as he stood before the ghost, tendrils of shade swirling out from his body and snapping menacingly. The ghost eyed the shadows warily, tugging at his shirt collar in alarm.

"Uh, n-nothing to be concerned about sir, just a load of -"

"What. Rumours?" Nico growled, the shadows starting to snake across the ground to Ronald. If the ghost had been alive, Nico was sure that he would have wet himself.

"That you were rejected by Hades himself. That you had abused your powers and you had gone rogue." The ghosts voice grew quieter as he carried on, the look on Nico's face obviously deterring him.

"That you were disowned." Nico's eyes flared as the shadows circled around Ronald, snaring around his limbs before dragging him back to the underworld.

Nico stood there for some time, panting in anger with shadows literally steaming from his skin. Of course the ghost had been wrong. His father would never do something like that.

You get what you deserve. The voices whispered in his head, the change in volume bringing an eery feeling inside of Nico.

"So... That was... New." Cecil commented, Nico noted that he was trembling slightly as he said this.

"At least we know where to look now." Lou Ellen said, as she dragged Cecil to the truck, preparing to leave.

Nico had almost forgotten that the others were there, remaining quiet whilst he interrogated the ghost. Shame expanded in his chest, quenching his anger as he realised what he had done. They had seen who he truly was. Nico felt a warmth on his shoulder. He turned to find that Will had placed his hand on his shoulder, his warm blue eyes melting away the stygian ice trapping Nico's heart.

"Let's get you checked out death boy. You're starting to look a bit like our friend Ron." Nico looked at himself in alarm to find that his fingers were starting to blur, becoming spectral.

"Lead the way Sunshine." Nico felt a small smile tug at his lips as he followed the beaming son of Apollo back to the truck, his hand still placed around his shoulders as they walked.

 **AN: As you may have guessed, I have no clue about geography, especially in the USA, so I'm just kind of googling and hoping for the best. Hope you enjoyed it, I'll update soon.**


	10. 10 - Will

**AN: Thanks to everyone for the favourites and reviews so far, I'm glad that you're enjoying this as much as me. Song of the chapter is Sunshine by Avicii and David Guetta, in memory of my favourite DJ who sadly passed the other day. The song isn't entirely relevant but I just felt like it was fitting (although the name kind of relates haha, plus I can kind of imagine Will moshing out to it). This chapter is a little sad in places but hopefully with some funny bits to make up for it. But anyway, here's chapter 10!**

 **10 - My little sunshine**

 **Will's POV**

Will knew that quests would often involve large amounts of travelling, but this was pushing it, even for Will. They had gone for around three hours in the rattling pick up, with Cecil and Lou Ellen discussing pointless subjects in the front. Will would occasionally join their conversations to entertain himself, but he spent most of focus on trying to speak to Nico. So far Will had been unsuccessful in his endeavours, getting one word responses from the glowering teen.

Ever since their ghostly encounter, Nico had acted more reserved than normal, twisting his skull ring frantically back and forth to the point where Will was surprised he didn't have friction burn. Nico gazed vacantly out of the window at the endless fields of crops they were passing, occasionally tracking the movements of an animal he spotted in the field before returning his gaze to the distance. Will had never seen him this gloomy before, and that was something considering his time spent in the infirmary decimating the plants.

Will could no longer stand the restless twisting of Nico beside him and he placed his hand on Nico's to stop him. Nico took in sharp breath as he visibly jumped from his trance, pausing for a short moment before retracting his hand. He shot Will a reproachful look before switching to fiddling with the hem of his leather jacket instead (which, by the way, Will found very flattering). Will returned his hand to his side, before looking to Nico.

"What's up death boy?" Will said, his mouth pulling up into a comforting smile. Nico glanced towards Will before sighing deeply and flopping his head back onto the chair in defeat.

"I'm fine Will, don't worry." Nico attempted to shoot a death glare at Will, but he saw right through the act. Nico's eyes were glimmering with appreciation for his concern. He wondered distantly when the last time was that someone had asked Nico if he was ok.

Will raised his eyebrows in a mocking gesture.

"Sure, sure. I think your melted finger says otherwise." Nico looked down at his hand in mild alarm before realising that Will had been referring to his skull ring. He shrugged and returned to twisting it, although at a much slower pace this time.

"I just... I don't know, Ron got under my skin a bit." Will's brow creased momentarily before he remembered that the ghost's name had been Ronald. Man, if he could touch ghosts, he sure would have slapped that guy hard.

"He was a jerk Nico, don't believe a thing he said." Nico nodded reluctantly but pursed his lips in doubt.

"I know, but there was some truth to what he said. What if... What if my power's failing is my dad's way of punishing me? Gods know I deserve it." Nico hung his head in shame and he gripped his head between his hands, hiding effectively from Will. Will was shocked by Nico's display of emotions, he took a moment to think of an appropriate response.

"I'm sure your dad wouldn't do that. He seems like a pretty sound guy, well except for the whole lording over the underworld bit." Will caught a glimpse of a smirk through Nico's overhanging hair. He gave a small grin and carried on.

"Besides, what would he punish you for? Uniting the Greeks and Romans? Or maybe saving the world? Because I'm pretty sure none of those things deserve punishment." Nico snorted in amusement, but Will could sense that he was troubled by something. But, Nico being Nico, he composed himself and quickly drew back up his mental barriers, almost as though the short exposure to daylight had burnt him. He shot Will a ghost of a smile before returning to the window and twisting his skull ring once more. Will decided in that moment that the fleeting glimpse of happiness he had just witnessed had made him feel better than he ever had in his life.

He would do everything in his power to bring that happiness to the surface again, even if it were only a small smile now and then, it would be worth it.

After a less than enthralling demigod version of I-Spy (including wild centaurs and various venti from Cecil, although the others strongly believed that these were in fact just storm clouds). It was no surprise that Will eventually drifted off into Hypnos' realm, finally succumbing to the boredom. Whiteness engulfed Will, his only sensation the feeling of being sat cross legged on a rough flooring. His surroundings had not even begun materialise before he realised where his dream was taking him. before his surroundings materialised fully. He was definitely not grateful for the reminder, but he was forced to stay seated as his body responded to the dream as it had on this day seven years ago.

Laughter and chatter surrounded him as his class appeared around him, seated in a large cluster on the carpeted floor, all facing the teacher. Many demigods would consider Will's childhood reminiscence a blessing, reminding them of simpler times, but for Will these were the worst days of his life. He had been forced to experience the fateful day relentlessly even after all of this time and he would still feel his emotions bubbling up inside of him as he was trapped in his seven year old self.

The room went silent as the teacher began to teach the children about the human body, showing various annoyed pictures that surely a four year old could understand, asking innane questions that bored Will to no end. One question however finally caught his attention.

"does anybody know what a muscle is?"

The class remained quiet as they puzzled over the new information and Will felt himself begin to fidget, the answer hanging on the tip of his tongue. Don't do it. Will muttered mentally, knowing that his efforts would be pointless but unable to stop his cringing. Young Will could no longer contain himself, shooting his arm up as high as he could reach.

"William, what do you think?" The teacher gestured gently at Will but their face betrayed their feeling of annoyance at his persistence.

"A muscle is a group of tensile tissues that contract and relax to allow the movement of another tissue." He could hear sniggers around him, no doubt from the combination of his geeky answer and his pronounced lisp. His younger self had only recently lost his front teeth (which was very delayed compared to his classmates) and his adult teeth were only just starting to push through. That paired with his small and scrawny stature made him an interesting sight.

Young Will was obviously undeterred by his classmates and ploughed on spouting facts.

"But all muscles have different functions and can be classed into different types. Like the smooth muscle, which encases the intestines and allows peristalsis to occur." The children surrounding him had grown from sniggering to full on laughing at Will, nudging each other and attempting to re-enact Will's pronunciation of medical terms. Again young Will was unaffected by his classmates, suddenly jumping up to stand against the far wall of the class room opposite the door. At this point his teacher had begun to intervene, raising from their chair to no doubt reprimand Will, but he was on a roll.

"The human intestines are a lot bigger than we think they are, the large intestine is just 1.5 metres long, -" he strode halfway across the room before continuing.

"- however, the small intestine is actually 6 metres long." Will proceeded to walk out of the classroom and down the corridor, to demonstrate the length of the tissue.

This was the breaking point for his teacher, as they finally snapped into action, shouting at Will to return to the room at once. Only now did he notice the jeers and nasty comments from his classmates as he stood frozen in place in the corridor, feeling as though the vicious comments were slicing him open. He slowly returned to the room, and settled at the back of the group, remaining silent for the rest of the lesson. Will would only notice this on later reflection, but a boy with dark curly hair had been staring at Will amid the jeering, not through maliciousness, but rather pity.

Time rolled past agonisingly slow as the lessons continued. Will's fidgeting increasing exponentially until he could barely write for the bouncing of his knee. After what seemed like days, the shrill bell for break cut through the teachers sentence and his classmates were nowhere to be seen in a matter of seconds. Will was left shuffling through his items on the desk as he tidied them away for break. He didn't trust to leave his things out unprotected. Will's head shot up as he noticed footsteps approaching him. His body was immediately flooded with energy, his muscles itching to be used to escape. His nerves were quickly dampened as he noticed that was only the teacher that was approaching him. He wasn't sure why he had been nervous in the first place, it wasn't like the teacher was going to turn into a monster or anything. Her elderly joints made audible popping and cracking noises as she lowered herself into a chair in front of Will. He paused briefly in his packing away as he looked to the teacher in alarm, scared of the repercussions for his earlier impulsive act.

"William." The teacher addressed him formerly. He hates his full name, it felt too distant. Only one other person ever called him that.

"Yes Miss?" Will asked inquisitively, feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Trapped with inevitable doom around the corner. The teacher pursed her lips into a thin line, her mouth resembling a prune.

"William what you did earlier was inappropriate. Showing off to everyone about your knowledge -" Will's brow creased in confusion as he interrupted.

"But Miss, I thought schools encourage learning. Surely me explaining to my peers about that would help them as well?" Will questioned before realising what he had done. As he caught his teacher's expression of barely buried rage he shrunk as far as he could into his chair.

"William, don't you dare interrupt me when I'm talking. Never have I seen a child so impulsive as you. Interrupting me, talking over me, and walking out of my classroom!" Will's lower lip trembled as he tried stop the comments from stinging him.

"My ma says I have ADHD." Will mumbled to himself, looking down in shame as he questioned whether this was actually the case. Had his mother just made that up to excuse his naughty behaviour.

"I don't care what you may or may not have. You do not behave like this in my class! Until you learn to behave like the other children in my lessons, you will remain silent unless spoken to. Understood?" Will nodded his head slowly, still not fully understanding why he was in the wrong.

"Right then, head out to to break." Will took it back, the teacher had turned into a monster.

Will sat hunched on the concrete steps to the hall, the hot stones leaving warm imprints in his skin. He was huddling over his book, attempting to completely absorb himself in the words and escape from this place. The words and terms were mostly beyond Will's understanding, but he still read the text, hoping to one day know what the confusing words meant.

He closed the book to once again admire the cover. It was nothing special in ways of appearance, it's dog eared cover detailing all of the systems in the human body. The title stated that the book was for first year medical students, but Will didn't care about that, he still struggled through the text using the pictures as guides. He sat hunched over a particularly complicated page detailing the different areas of the autonomic nervous system when a shadow abruptly fell over him. He looked up to find a boy from his class towering over him. He quickly shut the book in alarm as the boy approached him. His shiny hair dangled around his head as though they were coiled springs.

To Will's surprise, the boy settled himself next to Will on the step before shooting him a friendly grin, Complete with adult teeth Will thought frustratedly.

"Hi." The boy stated still smiling blindingly. Will found that the smile quickly became infectious as he returned it.

"Hi." Will tested, unsure what to say.

"Those kids were mean earlier you know. I thought you sounded really smart saying all that stuff." Will stiffened in shock, unused to this kid of display of defense. He was struggling to think of a reasonable response.

"I'm Jake. Nice to meet you by the way." Jake shot another smile at Will. Will briefly wondered if he could ever smile as brightly as this kid.

"I'm Will." He stated as he returned a sheepish grin, welcoming the unusual friendliness.

"So what were you reading earlier?" Jake asked in confusion, not recognising the complex images on the cover. Will settled into easier conversation over this, this was familiar territory.

"It's an anatomy book of the human body. It's quite hard to read but I still find it interesting." Jake regarded Will with shock as the information sunk in.

"But that says it's for first years. Does that mean University? How did you get that?" Jake seemed to realise he had bombarded Will slightly with his questions and smiled apologetically.

"Yeah it does. And um... It was my dad's. He left it behind before he left." He trailed off, wondering again how his dad could have done that to his ma.

"Well at least it's being put to good use now." Will was feeling so confused by this. How had his day gone from being so rubbish to being one of the best. The bell once again interrupted conversations, pulling the children reluctantly out of the sun into their lessons once again.

"Right then, back to class." Jake stated, before raising an eyebrow at Will quizzically.

"Well, are you coming?" When Will didn't respond, sitting frozen in place on the step, Jake quickly lent down and grabbed Will's hand, pulling him to his feet. As Jake dragged a staggering Will behind him, he had a permanent ear plotting grin and Will was shocked to find that he also did.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of emotions. The discombobulation of shame from his earlier actions paired with feelings of intense joy from speaking to Jake. The end of school came all too soon for Will, as he rushed out of the class, eager to tell his mum about his day. Running out of the class Will quickly grabbed his bag from the pegs and powered towards the door. He turned before leaving to spot Jake, just leaving the classroom with a group of friends. Will's smile died on his lips as he noticed the way the girls were swarming him, asking if he would be playing out later. Will abruptly turned away from the group and ran out of the door, his feelings crushed once again by hopeless dreams.

Will managed to stay composed for the while walk home, but as soon as his mum opened the sky blue door the tears rolled down his cheeks in streams.

His mother brought him to the dining table, quickly shoving a plate of chocolate muffins in front of him. He laughed breifly at her antics before e

the day's events came flooding back to him. He hadn't cried like this in a long time, and he could tell from his mum's expression that she knew it had been bad.

He stared lovingly up at her, taking in her wavy caramel hair, highlighted from many years spent surfing and laying in the sun. Her beautiful eyes almost turquoise in colour (he would later realise as he grew up that he shared flecks of this colour in his own eyes) and her pink pediatrician scrubs smelling like antiseptic and sweets. He wasn't ashamed to admit that his mother was his anchor in the world. She was one of the only good parts. She embraced him tightly, his tears soaking into the clean linen.

"Oh Will. What are we gonna do with you hey?" She muttered as she stroked his hair lovingly, waiting until Will's sobs sputtered to a stop.

"What's wrong honey?" Her southern accent always came through when she said honey and it always made Will feel at home. She continued to stroke his hair, a small sad smile gracing her beautiful features. Will couldn't help but tell her everything, the terrible and the good parts spilling from his lips unbidden. When he had finally finished recounting his adventures, he noticed that his mum's eyebrows had creased slightly, not in confusion but rather curiosity.

"Will honey, you don't need to feel bad about the lesson. You need to understand that... When people don't understand things, they might get mean and take that out on you. And you know why the kids and the teacher were like that Will?"

Will shook his head as he hiccuped breifly.

"Because you're smart Will. You're really smart. You know, one day, if you want to be, you're gonna be a better doctor than your dad or I could ever be and that's not just because you're clever. It's because you care. You care so much and you always will do, my little sunshine." She gave him a smile that was so full of pride Will could barely bring himself to look at her. He hiccuped again as he muttered.

"I love you Ma." Before embracing her tightly, his small arms barely able to reach around her.

"Now, what's this about Jake then?" His mum asked. Will briefly wondered if he had heard a scuffle in the corridor but upon looking at his mum he soon dismissed it.

"Uh. Well, he was nice to me. And yeah that's it really." His mum could see straight through Will's half truth, a smirk lighting her face.

"But he held your hand." She suggested quietly, an eyebrow quirked in amusement.Will shrugged as he reluctantly felt his face grow warmer.

"How did that make you feel Will?" His mum questioned, her voice light as though she were treading carefully.

"Good I guess, I dunno. It kind of made me feel all fluttery inside." Will blushed at the childish description. His mum smiled faintly, attempting to encourage Will.

"Will honey, do you think you might have liked him? As in, as more than a friend?" Will stopped breathing. The question hung in the air oppressively, making him feel jittery. The same energy he had felt from his earlier confrontation returned to him in bounds, his cells charging to an almost unbearable level as it built in his blood.

"I think -" Will begun but was soon interrupted by the slamming if the dining room door onto the cabinet. His uncle strode purposefully into the room, his grey eyes cold and unrelenting. He stormed straight up to Will and his mother, pulling Will's chair back so that he fell to the ground, hard. His mother shrieked as his uncle towered over Will. She attempted to reprimand her elder brother but soon stopped as he landed a hard punch to her face.

Will's uncle Tom had lived with Will all his life, 'looking after' Will when his mum was at her job. She would often apologise to Will when he would hurl abuse at either Will or his mum. Nothing they did could stop him once he was on a rant. Ever since Will could remember, he had asked his mum why they stayed with the jerk. His mum would always give the same hollow sounding reply.

"He's the only family we've Will. He may be a jerk but we need him." He knew that it was unfair, but Will would often get angry at his mum for staying with her abusive sibling not understanding how she could put up with this. Only later in life did he realise just how much stress his mum was under from her hours at the hospital and how little money she actually received for her job. Without Uncle Tom, Will probably would have been in foster care years ago.

Uncle Tom leered over Will, glaring down at him with an almost feral sneer.

"What the heck do you mean? No nephew of mine is a God damned queer!" Will shrunk back with his words, feeling the brief peace he had experienced when speaking to his mum vanish instantly. He felt his muscles all over his body clench in fear.

"You better get out of here pronto William, before I decide what I'm gonna do with you." His uncle turned away from Will to face his mum, leaving his large Sun City Walmart looming in Will's face.

"Naiomi I think we need to speak." He drawled in his strong accent.

Will glanced at his mum, his vision flooded once again by unshed tears. She looked at Will with so much sadness and still unbridled love for her son.

"I'm sorry my little sunshine." She muttered before turning to face her brother.

Will couldn't take this anymore, he'd finally had enough. He needed to get out of here. Out of Sun City, out of Florida, anywhere but here. The molecules in his body hummed with power, a faint glow encircling him as he tensed his calf muscles.

His surroundings seemed to slow to a crawling speed as he glanced one more time at his ma, permanently etching her face into his mind. The way she stood slightly lopsided to the left and how she would flick her hands at her sides when she was nervous. The way she looked at him.

The light built up around him, encasing him, protecting him. He could feel the shadows in the room extinguish and his mum and uncle shield their faces as the light grew. With that, Will ran as fast as his feet could carry him.

Will ran. He ran for hours, never stopping, never pausing to look around him, only looking forward using the light as his guide. Will eventually ran out of steam and felt his legs buckle beneath him as he collapsed onto a grassy hill. He lay on the same ground, gazing blearily up at a large pine tree with the beautiful stars peeking through the needles. He lay there for a few seconds, his body still feeling as though it were in motion, before the light overcame him completely and he passed out.

Will woke with a start, momentarily confused as to where he was and why he was so tall. Then he remembered what had happened. He shook his head to try and escape the dream, searching for the cause for him waking up. He soon found that he had been jolted awake by the commotion currently occuring in the front of the car. If Will hadn't of known better, he would have guessed that they had trapped two harpies in the car with them judging by the amount screeching.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!"

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN THE ONE DRIVING TOAD BRAIN! BE GLAD YOU HAVEN'T HAD TO SIT WITH YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS FOR FIVE HOURS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BAD MY CRAMP IS?!?"

"WELL NO BECAUSE IT'S YOUR FOOT DUR! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO DRIVE!" Just trying to listen to them was giving Will a splitting headache. He glanced to his right to find Nico bearing a remarkable resemblance to a cat that had just been poked repeatedly. His left eye had a slight tick as he attempted to hold back his annoyance. Will decided he should intervene before the car was derailed by an army of the undead.

"DI IMMORTALS YOU GUYS!" They both fell off their tirades suddenly as though shocked to find that there were other passengers in the car. Will sighed in exasperation, his nightmare still clouding his thoughts. He closed his eyes in hope to gain some sense of clarity, taking a deep breath to try andquell his tremoring hands.

"What in Hera's name happened?" Cecil looked sheepishly at Lou Ellen, his head bowed slightly looking like a puppy that had broken something.

"Lou Ellen wants a break Will. But she's just being an absolute -"

"Ok! I'll stop you there before I have to treat your half transformed limbs again. Let's just stop for a couple of hours and stretch our legs." Cecil and Lou nodded in agreement, happy to get out of the confined space. Nico cut in before Will could continue.

"I don't know guys, I think we should keep going." They all gave him incredulous looks.

"Any reason why or..." Lou Ellen asked, obviously still antsy from her arguement.

Nico shot her a warning glare, hellfire dancing in his eyes.

"Remaining stationary is dangerous for demigods, especially with a child of the big three." Nico trailed off, absorbed in the past. How could someone look so gloomy and still be so hot? Will chastised himself mentally for thinking that way. Nico was a friend, nothing else. Besides more important things were happening at the moment.

Will knew that this was a situation where his leadership was being tested, he would have to make a decision.

"We'll stop at the next town, -" Will ignored Nico's glare as he carried on.

"- and we will look out for danger. Stay vigilant everyone." Will swore he heard Nico mutter something under his breath, possibly in a different language, but he decided against trying to translate it. It was probably uncomplimentary towards lanky blonds.

"Hey look there's a town! I'm stopping here whether you guys like it or not. Sorry but I seriously need to get out of this dam rustbucket." Cecil shouted indignantly at that and gave Lou Ellen a poke in retaliation.

"No way." It was a faint noise, but Will's excellent hearing picked up on it. Nico was looking behind them at a sign they had just passed in shock.

"What is it?" Will asked, trying to tempt an answer out of Nico.

"The town's name... It's North Jackson." Will smirked at that and lent back in his seat.

"Well if that's not a sign from the fates then I don't know what is." The car was rapidly decelerating now as Lou Ellen searched for an appropriate space. Nico muttered under his breath and whether it was intentional or not, Will heard what he said.

"Not necessarily a good sign."

They soon found out that the quest group were all highly oriented around food, finding themselves in a small restaurant named Dino's restaurant seated around a cramped table. Will had opted to face away from the window as looking out at the low to the ground, white washed houses brought back an eery sense of déjà vu. They looked uncannily similar to the house back in Sun City. Will was having trouble reading the menu he was holding as it seemed to shake before him. He was about to blame his dyslexia when he realised that he was trembling again from his bitter memories. He quickly rested his arms on the table to still them and decided to distract from a potentially awkward conversation.

"So, how far have we got to go Cec?" Cecil seemed to be calculating the route in his head, occasionally using his fingers to jot up either hours or miles.

"Considering current congestion rates, I'd say about 17 hours tops." Silence enveloped the group breifly before chaos ensued, voices overlapping in incredulity. Will quickly composed himself, remembering his leadership role.

"Ok, so we should arrive at about 7 tomorrow then? We still have plenty of time guys, there's no need to panic." This seemed to have some positive effect on Nico, diminishing his glare by a minsicule proportion. Lou Ellen was less impressed.

"It's not the time I'm worried about Will, it's my Gods dam legs! I think they'll fall off if I keep at it."

"Well the chances of that are actually almost impossible, although you could get RSI if -"

"Will, it was an expression, not literal." Will but his lip in order to keep back a snarky retort. He could see Nico out the corner of his eye smirking and barely containing a chuckle whilst trying to disguise it by looking at the menu. Will felt himself smile as he saw Nico's mirth.

Their meals had been demolished within minutes of arrival, the sight and smell of the dishes too powerful to ignore. Unimportant conversations filled the gaps, discussing the merits of different footwear in battle (to which Will had very little input) and how Nico could fight in his combat boots. He frowned as though confused by the comment.

"They're heavy, so they're good for kicking." The others seemed disturbed by Nico's comment but Will found it hard to contain his laughter. He just couldn't take Nico seriously when he looked that cute.

Whilst Lou Ellen and Cecil were discussing which pig was the best breed (obviously Lou Ellen started that), Nico and Will sat in comfortable silence. Will looked over at Nico to find him eyeing the desert menu almost guiltily, Will was about to tell him to order something when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to face a burly man with a brown brush like moustache almost covering his upper lip. His badge shined in the restaurant's dim lighting.

"Excuse me Sir. Is that your car parked outside?" The conversations sputtered to a stop between the others as they all began to tense, he knew that they were all thinking the same thing. Monster.

"Uhhh yeah the old pick-up? Yeah." The cop furrowed his brows whilst looking at the unruly group, seeming to decide if he thought they were old enough to have a licence.

"Well... I have information here saying that it's not yours. It was stolen yesterday morning from a farm in Texas. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Everyone immediately shot around to look at Cecil. Lou Ellen shoved him and muttered.

"I knew we couldn't trust him. I specifically said was it stolen." Despite Lou Ellen's incriminating actions and the sweat starting to bead on his neck, Will maintained his calm demeanor.

"Sir, I'm sorry we didn't know it was a stolen vehicle, we're just borrowing the car for a road trip." The cop tightened his lips into a grim line as he stared Will down.

"All the same, I'd like to see some ID and some legal papers please." The cop said, his eyes boring into Will's.

Will could see Nico in his peripheral bending over the table to speak to Lou Ellen, his heightened hearing (thanks to Apollo) picked up on their conversation.

"Don't you think now might be a good time for some mist manipulation?" He hissed sassily.

"I'm trying! I've never been as good at controlling the mist. Hang on... I think I've got it."

The air sourrounding the group shimmered for a few seconds before settling. Will was reminded of a mirage formed on a hot day. The cop blinked as he paused rifling through his papers, taking a few steps back in his disorientation. That created a gap for the group to escape if they needed to.

Will turned to congratulate Lou Ellen on her deception, but a shaky voice interrupted him.

"What is that on your belt young man?" The cop pointed to Nico's sword, before glancing at Lou Ellen's sheathed dagger, his face falling in shock. Lou Ellen's face fell in dread.

"Oh no. Guys, I did manage to manipulate the mist. Just not how I wanted to."

They all looked at each other before moving to stand. The cop drew out his gun and pointed it at Nico.

"Put your hands where I can see them and walk to that wall." He pointed to the wall at the opposite side of the room.

They all looked to Will, asking for his decision on whether they should comply with the mortal.

"Do as he says guys." They all walked with their hands raised in submission to the wall, with Nico staying in the centre of the group for some reason. They lined up in single file against the wall facing the cop.

"Ok guys, do you trust me?" Nico muttered to the group. Lou Ellen and Cecil looked questioningly towards Will once again.

"Always have." Will muttered, keeping his eyes on the cop, his gun poised at them as he spoke into his radio.

"Ok, well I'm about to do something stupid." Nico took their hands in a flash and pulled them backwards toward the wall. Before Will melted into the cold of the shadows, he heard a rattling explosion that could only have been gunfire.

 **AN: Aww poor Will. I actually felt quite sad while I was writing this haha. But anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've already written the next chapter title and I keep on making myslef laugh thinking of it haha. Anyway, until next time.**


	11. 11 - Nico

**AN: First of all, sorry for the wait. I have exams coming up at the moment so I've been trying to revise more (ish). But Woah! How did we get to Chapter 11 haha? I can't believe I've actually got this far. Song of the chapter is The show must go on by Queen because they're epic and I feel like Nico would love them! Plus the lyrics fit Nico in more ways than one. Things are about to get intense in this chapter, with multiple schists hitting the fan and some whump (not saying who), so I hope you're all ready!!**

 **11 - The Death-Mobile**

 **Nico's POV**

Considering the dangerous situation they were facing, Nico had thought his idea had been pretty good at the time. Only now did he realise what an idiot he had been. He walked cautiously to the wall, keeping the cop in his peripheral at all times, glancing at the barrel of the gun and attempting to track any possible movements. He knew that if the team stayed here to face the mortal then things would go south quickly. They needed to get out.

Dread raced through Nico's limbs as he realised what he'd have to do. The last time he had shadow travelled he had almost been consumed by the voices of the damned, their whispers still lurking in the recesses of his thoughts and that had been when he had only shadow travelled by himself. He had no idea what it would do to him if he were to take 3 other people with him. Nico stood with his back resting against the wall, casting a short shadow on the flaking paint. He took a moment to compose himself taking deep breaths and reassuring himself.

 _Come on Nico, you've done worse than this. You transported the freaking Athena Parthenos for Hades sake. You can definitely transport these lot out of danger. Come on..._

He steeled himself as the others grabbed onto his hands, holding on like their lives depended on it. Of course, they did but Nico chose to ignore that fact for now and instead collapsed into the impossibly small shadow on the wall, pulling the others with him through the liquid black.

Nico had decided after recent events, that shadow travel sucked. He remembered feeling excited about his powers when he first discovered them, feeling as though he were enacting his favourite scenes from mythomagic: raising skeletons, commanding zombies and teleporting. But if Nico had only known where it would lead him. Being a son of Hades truly sucked.

He felt the voices screaming again, their words unraveling his body and pulling him in too many directions. Nico was falling. His limbs weren't reacting how they should, falling numb and unresponsive to the point where Nico wondered if they were even still attached. He could feel the shadows prying into his mind, peeling at his thoughts attempting tounearth his greatest fears and secrets. Nico felt himself grimace as he felt his soul being ripped from his body as though drawn to an ethereal magnet.

Then it all changed.

"Nico come on, you need to fight it. You can do this death boy." Nico struggled to turn his head to his left, shocked to remember that the others were with him. Will stood at his side, his body shrouded in shadows. Nico was pleased and somewhat shocked to find the shades trying to pull him into the underworld to join them, but failing in their attempts. His brilliant blonde hair shone in the dark, his blue eyes reminding Nico of a summer sky. His skin seemed to emit it's own light, cutting through the swirling shadows around him. Nico felt a rush of determination roll through him. He needed to save his friends before it was too late. The shade would eventually pierce Will's shields and then Gods knows what would happen. Step by gruelling step, Nico pulled the group through the shadows, his legs feeling as though they were each towing a small truck.

The voices were unrelenting, stabbing into Nico's very being. Chilling his body until he was sure that his bones had turned to solid ice. Only the warmth from Will's hand in his kept him going, the heat seeming to melt the ice in his core just enough so that he could keep mobile. Nico could feel his eye lids sagging in exhaustion, his legs stumbling as he tried to find footholds on the inky terrain. He needed to get back to the world of the living before he became lost in the abyss. An opening appeared in front of the group as he thought this, the shadows reluctantly bending to his will. He dragged the team for the last metre, ignoring the pulls of the shadows and promptly collapsed onto the damp surface.

Silence enveloped the group as they all recovered from their ordeal. However Nico was otherwise occupied with his own feelings, he couldn't afford to think about anything else at the moment. A loud buzz filled his hearing to the point where Nico could hear nothing else. That paired with his unfocussed vision made him feel as though he were watching a show on an old fashioned TV. The numbness from the shadows lingered in his body, preventing him from moving (not that Nico wanted to at that point). Yet still, through the chilling throb of numbness, he could feel something... Something on his thigh. It was blood.

Panicking, Nico tried to get up and immediately regretted his action. He had underestimated his recovery time as gravity brought him smashing back down onto the wet grass. He let out a reluctant groan of pain, hoping that the others wouldn't notice his weakness. He hated being treated like he was fragile. Nico briefly wondered why Will hadn't immediately descended on him to check for 'underworldy residue' when they escaped the shadows, turning to look for him. Had they been separated during the travel?

His question was answered soon enough as he found Lou Ellen and Cecil laying to his left, heaped on top of each other and both unconscious. Will lay to his right, his hand still locked in the death grip of Nico's own hand. Nico couldn't help but admire the beautiful body next to him as he lay there panting, trying to regain his strength.

Will looked so peaceful like this. His hair shining golden as the moonlight scattered bright highlights across it. His tanned face relaxed from his usual ear splitting grin, with his mouth slightly parted almost looking as though he were trying to say something.

Nico shuddered as feeling begun returning to his limbs, pain suddenly overcoming him. He lay there locked in place, the intense burning in his right thigh tensing his muscles all across his body. Nico resisted the urge to scream as he rolled onto his side, uttering a small shout as he attempted to rid himself of the pain. What in Hades happened? Shadow travel never normally did this to Nico and he couldn't understand why it would now.

He fought against the haze surrounding his mind, realising that he needed to stop rolling around on the floor like an idiot and assess the situation. Nico almost laughed as he realised he was quoting Will, but the sudden spasm in his diaphragm resulted in bolts of pain dancing through his limbs. He decided that laughing wasn't a good idea. Nico drew in a deep breath (well, as deep as he could breathe) and raised his head to look at his thigh. He immediately spotted the wound, the area around the bleeding gash turning his black jeans an impossible darker shade of black. Blood was still pouring from the wound as Nico watched and with a growing sense of alarm, Nico quickly grasped the afflicted area to attempt to stem the bleeding. He really could use a doctor right now.

Dizziness swam through Nico, threatening to pull him away from the wound but he fought through it, deciding to distract himself with his thoughts in hopes of ignoring it. He squeezed his eyes shut as he wondered to himself about the situation. Why hadn't he bled out while he was shadow travelling? The answer came to Nico surprisingly quickly, as his father's words materialised in his thoughts during his time in the palace.

" _When you shadow-travel Nico, you become one with the shadows. You are no longer in your physical state." Nico had been about ten at the time, so he had laughed outright at his dad._

 _"You sound like Yoda."_

 _"What is... Yoda?"_

The memory dissolved at this point and Nico wasn't sure whether he should feel relieved or disappointed. Was he really this out of it? But the odd memory had managed to remibd him of why his wound had only begun to affect him now. His body had become non-physical whilst on the shadow realm, so his pain could not manifest.

 _Ok, Number 2, why are the others unconscious?_

Nico had to pause to think about this, the pain making a brief reappearance as his distraction plan faltered briefly. He finally settled on the fact that he had not been able to transport them as he normally would, shielding them from the shadows of the underworld. They had been exposed to the souls of the damned, no wonder they were knocked out. The pain rolled through him once more, making him grit his teeth until he thought they might crack from the force. He needed to do something.

"W...Will..." Nico's voice trailed off weakly as the dizziness returned, sending him into a disoriented spin of confusion. Nico was vaguely aware that Will was waking up, his startling blue eyes swimming in his vision, almost glowing in the night sky.

"Woah." Will said, shaking his head in attempts to clear the cobwebs.

"Enjoy... your beauty... sleep sunshine?" Will looked confused briefly but then settled on his trademark ear splitting grin that made Nico's hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Well I wouldn't count getting thrown into shadows as beauty sleep but-" the smile fell off his face abruptly as his gaze travelled to Nico's hand, clamped tightly around his thigh. Despite his best efforts, blood still managed to seep between the gaps in between his fingers. Nick grimaced and curled up against his legs as another spasm of pain racked his body.

"Nico. Please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Will's voice was verging on panicked as he scrutinized him. Nico had resumed panting as he focussed all of his attention on his hand gripping the wound, attempting to ignore the stabbing pain that seemed to shoot through all of his bones. Man this really sucked.

"Ugh. Wha... What -" Will cut him off, dropping down to Nico's side as he rummaged through his medical bag frantically.

"A bullet hole death boy! An actual gunshot wound! God's sake what is wrong with you! Of course this happened. We couldn't just get away normally and escape like normal demigods. Oh no. We end up annoying a cop and then getting shot! I don't know -"

Nico almost chuckled at Will's incessant chatter, wondering whether this was how he usually reacted when healing people. Growing annoyed with Will's rabbiting, Nico decided to interrupt him.

" - You are the most obtuse, thick headed, minotaur dung, annoying -"

Nico grunted, interrupting Will's chain of curses.

"Less ranting, more helping." This seemed to snap Will out of his stupor, his eyes flashing to Nico's face with a look of apology before he began to clean the wound with nectar. Nico did not want to relive that moment any time soon. The nectar stung almost as much as the pain ripping through him from the bullet. His exclamation of pain seemed to wake up Lou Ellen, with her muttering incoherently underneath Cecil, attempting to shift away from him. Her eyes slowly opened and she lay still for moment before realising what the weight pinning her down was.

"Uh, No thank you!" She said as she shoved Cecil unceremoniously off of her. This action seemed to jolt Cecil out of his dreams.

"I don't wanna get up." He drooled out blearily before shooting up.

"Woah, hey guys." He brought a hand up to his face as he massaged his temple, his face scrunched up slightly from pain.

"Woah why do I feel hung over. We didn't get drunk did we?" Lou Ellen looked over to Cecil before crouching beside him and promptly shoving him over onto his side.

"You idiot, you're not even old enough to know what a hang over is."

Will rolled his eyes at Nico, clearly hearing their antics whilst tending to his leg. The pain had lessened significantly by now, but his senses were still dulled by the experience. Nico suspected that the loss of blood and overuse of his powers were to blame for that.

"You're not drunk Cec. Or hung over. Nico shadow travelled us away from the restaurant after a cop nearly arrested us for stealing a car." Will sent a pointed glare over at Cecil at that point, who was still laying on his side on the ground with Lou Ellen looming near his side. She looked threatening even to Nico.

Cecil seemed to shrink into himself as he began to sit up, ignoring the threatening shift in posture from Lou.

"I'm sorry guys. I didn't know anything about that. If I had then I would have said something, but you know. My dad is the God of thievery at the end of the day, we should have expected this really." Nico rolled his eyes and attempted to shift so that he could better see the two from behind Will's crouched body.

"What matters is that we got away." The other two seemed recoil as they noticed that Nico was laying on the floor with Will crouch over him.

"Woah what happened?" Lou Ellen asked as she jogged over. Her concern filled Nico with warmth as she bent down to try and assist Will. He quickly waved her off, batting her hand away from his work and saying that he was almost done. Cecil joined them and sat on Nico's other side, opposite Will and Lou Ellen.

"So... what now?" He quizzed whilst plucking grass from the hill. They all looked at each other, their stumped expressions matching. Will spoke first.

"Well, we should probably find out where we are first before anything else. Unless Nico knows where we are..." He trailed off, looking down to Nico with a hopeful expression.

"No sorry. No idea where we are. I just jumped out anywhere I could before we all dissolved into shadows." Three pairs of shocked eyes stared at Nico for what felt like aeons. Eventually Cecil broke the silence.

"Well, on that note. Maybe we should go look for a road or something Lou." He said as he dragged her up behind him. Nico smirked at their reaction. He secretly enjoyed making his campmates squirm.

Will had begun to bandage Nico's thigh now, alternating which hand held the gauze as he tightly bound it in place.

"Wow you're fast." Nico muttered. He usually wouldn't have said anything, but he blamed his lack of mental filter on his blood loss. Will seemed to shirk back, his hands halting in their actions before resuming as if nothing happened.

"Uh, yeah suppose I am." Nico was left puzzled as he debated Will's reaction.

He didn't have long to think on it though.

"How are you holding up then?" Will asked. His eyes seemed to bore holes straight down to Nico's soul, demanding the truth from him.

"Ugh, not the best. Better than before though." Nico paused, considering the implications of what he was about to do. He carefully raised his left hand to grasp Will's shoulder.

"Thank you Will." He shot Will a brief smile of gratitude before releasing his grip and slumping his arm back down to the ground, his energy leaving him.

The look of surprise he received caused Nico to chuckle.

"Don't look so shocked, I am capable of emotion you know." Will seemed even more shocked for a moment before he grinned once again. Nico was really starting to love that grin.

"I know that. It's just quite a rare occurrence, I feel privileged to actually observe it." Nico weakly swatted Will's arm with his hand, his face becoming slightly flushed as he felt Will's tense muscles underneath his palm. He sure was muscly for someone who wasn't very athletic.

 _No Nico..._ He mentally chided himself. He didn't want to ruin another friendship. Will's deep voice shock Nico from his thoughts.

"Well. You're all done. You're lucky the bullet didn't nick your femur or get lodged in the actual bone. I would have had to heal you with my magic then and it would would have been a whole lot more painful." Nico failed to realise at the time, but Will had failed to say whether he had actually found the bullet in his leg or not. From the amount of pain he was in, Nico was guessing it had gone straight through and out the other side. Nico decided it was best not to think about that while he still felt so woozy. He didn't want to faint as well as being crippled.

Nico rolled slowly onto his back, his hand that had been previously clamped on the wound now grasping the grass beneath him to ground his turbulent feelings. He held back the hiss of pain as his leg was jostled by his movements.

"Woah there, did I say you could move? I think not di Angelo! You need to eat this." He stated before promptly shoving a square into Nico's mouth, which had been open as he attempted to protest. Nico almost gagged on the ambrosia, the cake still tasting like ashes and dust to him. He eventually swallowed the cake and could feel warmth spreading through his body, calming his shivers and dulling the sharp pain of his leg. He fixed Will with a menacing glare, growing even more frustrated as Will remained unaffected and instead raised a disapproving eyebrow at him.

"The ambrosia should heal your leg pretty soon, it doesn't take long to work on flesh. However -" Will paused as he noticed Nico trying to interrupt him again. He cocked his eyebrow again and carried on.

"- you still need to take it easy death boy. You lost quite a bit of blood. And not to mention what the shadow-travel did to you. I'm surprised you haven't passed out to be honest." He muttered the last part but Nico still heard it and his annoyance grew with Will's mother-henning. Nico drew himself into a sitting position before turning to face Will.

"Will, I'm not sure if you noticed, but we're on a quest to save the world. I don't have time to 'take it easy' or whatever minatour dung you healers say. The job needs to be done."

Silence settled over the two of them as Nico finished his little outburst, the only noise punctuating the thick air being the muffled calls of a Barred owl along with the distant shouts of what Nico was highly suspicious was Lou Ellen and Cecil. Will stood before him, his features slack and unreadable, but his eyes displaying his feelings clearly. Hurt danced around his eyes, along with... Was that anger?

"What because I'm a healer I don't know what it takes to go on a quest?" He questioned quietly, his gaze locked onto Nico's. Guilt riled inside of Nico as he realised what he had said.

"No, no that's not what I -"

"Well it doesn't matter, because what I do know is healing. And I'm pretty bloody good at it. And what I know from that, looking at you now. I know that you continuously push yourself to the limits, doing everything by yourself and never letting anyone help you. Your body can't take it Nico! You need to stop. You need to trust people. You need to put your faith in others."

Nico's eyes stung as he dropped his gaze from Will's, he couldn't bare to look at someone so pure.

"You don't know what I've done. I don't deserve to have people I can trust, or put my faith in or care ab-". He cut himself off abruptly. Nico felt as though he were laying the most ugly parts of his soul out for Will to examine, as he prodded them with his stethoscope and remarked ' _that's nasty'._

Nico jumped and raised his arms to defend himself as he felt a pressure on his arm before realising it was Will's warm hand, gripping his shoulder tightly.

"Nico, everybody deserves that. It's what makes life so important. You just need to find the right people to place that faith in." Nico almost sobbed as he looked into Will's beautiful sky blue eyes, his blonde eyelashes seeming to sparkle in the moonlight. He was conveying so much emotion without expressing it, the words not holding enough value for what needed to be said. That he understood.

"I - but I -" Nico's speech cut off as the voices raised inside of him chanting their taunts relentlessly.

 _Liar._

 _Outcast._

 _Evil._

 _Murderer._

 _You get what you deserve._

Nico winced at the ruckus growing in his mind, not noticing that this had drawn Will's attention. Before Will could question him, a roar ripped through the air, demolishing the peace between the two. A shrill scream pierced the air shortly afterwords that Nico vaguely recognised.

"Cecil." Will muttered as he jumped to his feet, he unsheathed his dagger and took off sprinting towards the commotion. Nico thought distantly that he could see the resemblance to the ancient Greek urns depicting heroes in battle. Their long legs pumping and arms swinging welding menacing blades (although Will's blade was less impressive). As if remembering something suddenly, Will turned to face him whilst still running.

"You, stay there. Doctor's orders." His voice trailed away as he ran further and Nico rolled his eyes before shifting his hands underneath him.

"Yeah right, like I ever follow orders." Nico muttered as he levered himself unsteadily off the ground, ignoring the dizzying spin of his surroundings. He had to save the others.

After a very prolonged hobble up the hill, Nico was panting heavily, his sword drooping in his hand but still raised and ready for their opponent. The sight unfolding before Nico's bleary vision left him confused and standing still as he attempted to process the situation.

"What in Hades..." He trailed off as he ducked to avoid a sword flying past him, shearing off a small portion of his hair in the process. Cecil dashed past him, chasing his weapon which had been batted out of his hands by a huge monster, easily standing at 8 feet tall with its lumbering arms reaching its calves. He watched as Will attempted to distract the monster by shooting arrows at it (Nico should probably say towards, as Will's arrows rarely reached their intended mark). Will had obviously decided that a small dagger would make no difference to a monster like this. He could spy Lou Ellen behind him, her hands raised in concentration as she muttered spells. The light shimmered purple around her outstretched palms, her spell's release imminent. Nico hoped it wasn't going to be another pig transformation.

Nico limped forwards, sword raised and prepared for the attack. He needed to help the others and do what he did best, kick monster butt. Only upon getting closer did he realise what the monster before them actually was.

"No way." He muttered barely dodging as a wayward arrow (courtesy of Will) almost skewered him. Cecil had rejoined them at this point, taking his place beside Nico and Will. Looming over the small group, was the minotaur.

"Took you longer than I thought Neeks, where you been?" Cecil asked and at the mention of his name, Will pivoted his features dropping in shock.

"Nico what are you doing?! I told you -"

"No one tells me what to do Sunshine." Nico said with a smirk before running off to face the minotaur, his leg screaming in protest at the sharp movement. Nico ignored his pain, tuning his senses onto the battlefield. He fell into an easy routine, ducking and dodging whilst trading the occasional parry with the beast, working with Will and Cecil to keep the creatures attention away from Lou Ellen.

"What's Lou doing?" Nico muttered to Will as he side stepped past him breifly. As he slid past, Nico clothes brushed against Will and he blushed at the close contact.

"She's trying to cast a spell on it." Will muttered as he string yet another arrow, Nico was highly suspicious that Will was aiming for the beast's left nipple.

"I can see that, I meant what spell."

"Oh right, yeah she's -". He was cut off as a purple glow cloaked the minotaur, rolling along its limbs and totally encasing him, making him look as though he had rolled around in flurescent purple paint. He roared in pain as he attempted to shake the substance off of him, failing in his attempts. The glowing purple shroud began to contort in shape, pulling the minotaur with it, shortening the beast until it was only the size of a peanut.

The group stood there panting and in shock as they watched the tiny minotaur utter a shrill roar before charging at Lou Ellen. He pounded his fists on Lou Ellen's combat boots, she regarded the monster with amusement before kicking him gently away from her foot.

"Seriously?" Will asked, his eyebrows raising high as he watched the tiny monster.

Now that the danger had ended, Nico's vision started to dim, with the dizziness causing him to sway slightly. He seriously needed to sit down before he collapsed.

"At least she didn't turn it into a pig." Cecil stated, sharing his earlier sentiments. The group continued to stare at the monster as it tried once again to attack Lou Ellen's boot, unleashing a terrifying noise that sounded extremely similar to a kitten to Nico. He looked to the others, gageing what they were going to do, before deciding to take action and raising his sword above the monster.

"Woah no! What are you doing?" Will shouted, stupidly flinging his hand under Nico's blade. He was barely able to stop the sword from cutting his fingers off.

"Me? Killing a monster, what are you doing?" Nico was debating Will's sanity in this moment.

"But - he's only tiny. He can't hurt us like this and Lou, he'll stay like this until another spell is cast on him won't he?" He looked pleadingly towards Lou Ellen, his eyes wide.

"Uh, yeah sure." Lou Ellen sounded less than convinced with her answer, but Will decided that it was good enough for him.

"So he's fine. No need for murdering." The voices shot up once again in Nico's mind, screaming murderer until his ears rung. He physically shook his head, as though hoping that this would dispell the souls from his body. Nico looked to Will's pleading face once again and found himself unable to disagree with those huge puppy dog eyes. He lowered his sword slowly to the ground beside him, still not trusting the monster enough to sheath it.

"Fine, but we need to get out of here before something else finds us."

"Yeah, where is 'here'?" Will looked around whilst talking, looking like a lost tourist.

"Uh well, we found a road-" Cecil began.

"And uh, yeah that's it. Just a road, no traffic, no town and basically nothing but fields. Sorry guys." Nico found himself blinking rapidly in the attempts to rid himself of the white stars at the edges of his vision but to no avail. He could feel his legs shaking from the strain, his energy completely spent even before the fight. Shifting in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, he stabbed his sword into the ground and gently lent against the hilt so that his weight was supported somewhat. Will narrowed his eyes in suspicion at him before speaking.

"So we've just been attacked, don't know where we are and have no transport. This is going great." Will muttered throwing his head back dramatically. A sudden idea brewed in Nico's mind and he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. Although, he wasn't sure if the others would be impressed. Especially Will.

"I have an idea."

"Oh here we go." Cecil muttered, earning a glare from Nico which sent his gaze to the ground in embarrassment.

"We're listening." Lou Ellen said, lookin as though she were debating whether or not to shove Cecil.

"How do you guys feel about zombies?"

Silence settled over the group and Nico took that as his cue, deciding that if he didn't do this now then he would collapse then and there and they would be stranded. He closed his eyes and focussed on the darkness inside of him, channeling the language of the dead and chattering his teeth to summon his chauffeur. He ignored the looks from the others, feeling too tired to care at the moment and instead watched as a vintage hearse materialised in front of them, parked on the farmers dirt track in the field.

"Everybody, meet Jules Albert." The group still remained silent, even as Nico stepped forward unsteadily, yanking his sword from the ground and sheathing it as he approached his driver.

"Dude. You complain about my car. You expect us to get in the 'Death-mobile'?" Cecil asked incredulously. Despite their silence, the others seemed to agree with him.

"Well, right now it's our only option. So deal with it."

Nico didn't have time for this. His vision was rapidly tunneling, with his peripheral now being only a black blur. He wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer. However, Nico had failed to factor in how the use of his powers again would drain him and as that feeling crashed down on him, he fell into unconsciousness, vaguely aware that a pair of arms had caught him as he passed out.

 **AN: Hope everybody enjoyed that. I'll see you soon for the next chapter!**


	12. 12 - Will

**AN: First of all, sorry for the huge gap in updates. I've finished uni for the summer now so I'll try to update more (if I don't get too many shifts on the farm haha). Thanks for the votes/ favourites/ follows and reviews, it makes me so happy that people are enjoying this :). Song of the chapter is Sun is Shining by Axwell and Ingrosso basically because it's a fab song and I kind of imagine it as a Solangelo song haha.** **Ugh PS I saw major spoiler for the new TOA that I haven't been able to read yet and now I'm not sure if I want to lol. Anyway, here's chapter 12.**

 **Chapter** **12 - The huge cow**

 **Will's POV**

To say they were shocked would have been a severe understatement. Even despite his earlier show of necromancy (against Will's orders might he add), they were still severely freaked out by the unearthly being in front of them. For some inexplicable reason, Will was more bothered by the name than anything else. It just seemed so... un-zombie like.

Will was roused out of his thoughts as he felt a plummeting feeling in his chest, reminding him of the time he went on his first (and only) rollercoaster, flying down the steep decline at dizzying speeds. He recognised the feeling from his years in the infirmary, it was a feeling that had helped him to save many lives.

It was when a life force dropped steeply, the pull of the underworld growing stronger and pulling the soul from the body. Only this time it was only a marginal drop, which meant that...

Will surged forwards before Nico's legs had even buckled, knowing that he would soon collapse from his efforts. Will was honestly surprised that he had lasted so long already. Maybe he was improving in using his underworld powers again.

 **(AN: I was seriously considering having Jules Albert catch Nico but I'll be nice and give you guys a Solangelo moment).**

Will shot his hands under Nico's arms as he plummeted to the floor, circling his hands around his chest and pulling him to rest against his thumping heart. Nico's head lolled back to view what happened. He seemed very out of it and Will debated whether he'd even remember this moment. Nico's onyx eyes locked onto Will's briefly, flashing with recognition and gratitude before rolling back into his head.

Will lowered Nico gently to the ground, cradling his head as it lolled listlessly. He shook his head slowly and pursed his lips as he begun to rummage through his medical bag, although he already knew that he wouldn't find what he needed in there.

"Why are you such an idiot death boy?" Will muttered, his frustration towards the stubborn boy laying in front of him taking him over briefly before he transitioned into a controlled mood, ready to work.

An eerie silence settled over the clearing as Will sat to check Nico over, the only noises being the short shrill bleats from the miniature minotaur. He'd almost forgotten about him in the excitement.

Bending over Nico's almost lifeless body, trying to check his breathing Will had an absurd brief flashback to when he had almost been deafened by Nico shouting in his ear when he had done this before in the infirmary. This time, Nico was deep in his slumber and wouldn't wake so easily. Will needed to heal him quick.

"Guys, I need to heal him but that's gonna take some time. So I think it'd be best if we do it in the car -" Cecil chuckled at the innuendo.

"You're disgusting." Lou Ellen muttered as she strode forward to help Will with Nico, hooking her arm through his left. They managed to dump him, somewhat clumsily, onto the backseats, before Will climbed in, forced to have Nico's head resting in his lap in order for the healing magic to work.

Despite his best efforts to keep up his stoic and calm demeanor, Will was really struggling to ignore the prickles of adrenaline rushing through him as he looked down to the form resting on his thighs, his raven hair spilling out around his face. Will could almost trace the lines of his features. He shook himself, rooting himself back in the present. He needed to heal him, not admire him. He felt a slight blush (or at least, he hoped it was slight) creep up his neck, reaching up to tint his cheeks.

Before he could brace himself for the magic, Lou Ellen hopped into the back seat on the opposite side, propping Nico's feet on her lap so that he didn't lay at an awkward angle. Cecil apparently disagreed with her action, rapping his knuckles loudly against Lou's black tinted windows.

"Uh, excuse me. Death and spooky stuff is your area of expertise 'Miss daughter of Magic goddess'. No way am I sitting next to Mr Zombie Chauffeur." Will lost his patience at this point. At this rate they would be eaten by a hoard of hellhounds before they even reached Khione.

"Cec, it doesn't matter. All that matters is healing Nico and getting away from this dam field. Just get in."

Cecil grudgingly walked towards the door, opening it with obvious hesitance. Will rolled his eyes at him. As Cecil went to sit in the front seat, Jules Albert turned to glare at him. Cecil backed himself up against the door, looking as though he was regretting getting in the car.

"Uh, guys..." Lou Ellen looked as though she were stifling a laugh as she replied.

"Cec he just wants directions, calm down. You've seen worse than this."

"I disagree." He muttered before leaning slightly away from the door and turning to look at the zombie straight in his rotting eyes.

"Forks, North Dakota. Please." He seemed to add as an afterthought. Manners were probably a safe option when asking a zombie to take them cross country. With that, Jules Albert floored the gas and they shot out of the field at hellish speeds.

Will looked back down to Nico, ready to heal him now that they were on their way. He balanced his arms on the cars seats to attempt to avoid the jostling of the zombie's mad swerving, hovering his palms above Nico's chest. Looking up, he found Lou Ellen watching him with curiosity and it suddenly hit him that they had never witnessed him heal someone like this before.

"Um, you might want to cover your eyes." Will said, loud enough for Cecil to hear as well. He returned his gaze to the still son of Hades in his lap, not waiting for their expressions. That wasn't the priority now.

The warmth surged from Will's core once more, the lowered dams in his body being almost overpowered by the intense burning magic flowing through his limbs. He directed it towards his palms and felt the energy bridge the small gap between him and Nico. Will could feel the light burning away the shadows in his body and breifly wondered if he would be able to fully heal Nico like this? Or perhaps it would harm him more than heal him. After all, the shadows were a part of him.

Nico's life force was steadily building as Will continued to heal him, expelling the dark energy from the corners of his body. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do this for much longer, as his vision began to cloud with fog, his head feeling oddly muted and disoriented. What was he doing again? Oh yeah, healing.

As though a switch had been flipped, Will felt Nico's energy levels go from unhealthy to normal and he immediately released the light's hold, the energy seeping back into his body. The hearse's interior reeled around in Will's vision to the point where he wondered if the car was crashing. Judging by the lack of reaction from the others, he guessed he was just feeling dizzy.

"Woah." Lou Ellen muttered.

"Will you're a -"

"You're like the princess from tangled!" Cecil interrupted, peering around his seat, his earlier feelings towards Jules Albert forgotten in his excitement.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine -" Lou Ellen interrupted him by brutally shoving his face backwards into the front partition of the car, clearly fed up with his singing.

"Man, and people think I can't sing." Will muttered, earning a snort from Lou Ellen before she remembered what she was about to say before, her mouth dropping open again in shock.

"You're a light bender." Will's smirk quickly disappeared and he retreated into himself at her words, the change as rapid as the sun being blocked out by the clouds.

"You know what this means?" Lou Ellen carried on, waving her arms in excitement. He half expected her to say Party time! Hopefully he was wrong.

"You're a great warrior of Apollo! The best that has walked the earth in millennia! Man no wonder you felt like you needed to go on this quest."

"Greatest warrior. You sure they got the right guy?" Cecil muttered from the front, his head held just out of Lou Ellen's reach. Will thought he could see a red imprint of a hand forming on his face.

"Thanks Cec. Nice. I do kind of have to agree though. All I can do is blind the enemy, not a very useful power and definitely not 'warrior' worthy." He made quotation marks with his fingers when saying warrior. Lou Ellen puzzled over the information, her fingers grasping her chin in concentration.

"Time will tell Will. We'll just have to see what comes next."

"Well that wasn't cryptic at all." Will muttered, falling back into his seat as the exhaustion from using his powers swept over him suddenly.

"Yeah, you can thank my mum. She's good at cryptic information."

Will wanted to respond to her comment, but the pull of unconsciousness dragged at his body until his head rolled back onto the chair, his mind sinking into an empty abyss of sleep.

Being a child of Apollo could be interesting, and Will was secretly glad that he had Apollo for a parent compared to some of the other deities, (God of cupboards, seriously Romans?). But along with the perks, there were many weird things that came with being a son of the God of prophecy. For example, dreams were never simple with his children and Will could definitely attest to this. They were used in every child to give important messages and 'clues to the future', no matter what that may be. But man were they weird. Ever since he was a kid, Will was plagued by dreams about events that made absolutely no sense. Some were of a very near future, where he'd dream he would trip in the cafeteria and drop nachos all down himself only for that to happen the next day, but other dreams could be more distant. Yet, even the strangest dreams Will had, had since come to pass. Some of the dreams still made no sense to him, the images clearly etched in his mind for the rest of his life, but he knew that they would one day come true.

The most vivid (and repetitive) of Will's dreams, involved a cave. Which, although unusual, wasn't the part that creeped Will out the most. It was just Will's luck that this particular vision had decided to visit him while he was unconscious.

The wall's blurred together, their edges and crevices smoothed over by a warm white light, almost celestial reminding Will vaguely of the way celestial bronze emitted it's own beautiful light. The cave turned into a space of light and Will could feel the energy pouring out of him without restraint. Although Will was not using his powers in real life, he could feel all the sensations as though he were really living this moment, all of his receptors responding to his surroundings, but the strongest feeling for Will whenever he entered this dream, were his emotions. They would cloud his mind and take over his body, setting his nerves on fire. He was angry. Livid. More angry than he'd ever been in his life. And yet at the same time, he was feeling shock and a heavy weight in his heart that could only be grief. For what, he had no idea. But he knew that something bad had happened or was about to happen then G-force pulled at his hair sending it flying behind him like a ridiculous hair commercial, but he couldn't care less. He fought against the air resistance, his muscles sparking with energy and his whole body gleaming with blinding light. He had to get there, he had to do something. A guttural scream ripped from Will as he ploughed on towards his goal, a distant spot of space, untouched by his light. With that, Will felt himself start awake.

Only he wasn't awake. Not entirely anyway. This was definitely a new experience for Will and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He knew for a fact that his eyes were closed and his body was still, and yet here he was, watching the scene in the truck as though he were actually there. He felt like a ghost.

Will wasn't sure how long had passed since he had healed Nico, but Jules Albert was still driving like a maniac through the traffic of a large town, doing what must have been at least three times the speed limit. They cleared the town's border in under thirty seconds.

Lou Ellen and Cecil were both having innane conversations as could be expected with those two. He wasn't sure if he wanted to pay attention to what they were saying. Instead he focused on his lap, gazing without caution of being caught. He reached a bleary hand out to run through Nico's hair, his usual barriers abandoned in this state. He brushed his fingers through his hair, not entirely conscious of the feeling due to his current form but still getting the tingling sensation as though his mechanoreceptors were attempting to process the information.

A brief shudder rolled through Nico and he shifted in Will's lap, almost as though he could feel him. Maybe Will really was dead. With this disturbing thought, he watched unable to do anything as Nico continued to toss and fidget in his lap, muttering incoherently. If Will were conscious he would have checked Nico's forehead to check if a temperature had caused his unease, but a nightmare was much more likely. Especially with Nico.

Finally, Will managed to understand what Nico was saying. It was quiet enough so that the others didn't notice his words but Will leant forward to hear them.

"Will. No. Not him. Please don't. No."

A thrill of dread rushed through Will, halting his actions and making his already dissociated limbs feel even more numb. What was Nico dreaming about? An aggressive jerk pulsed through Nico at this point, causing him to almost fall off Will's lap. Will reached out his hands instinctively, jumping as they passed through his body. This was creepy. Will decided that he definitely did not like this.

Luckily Will wasn't the only one that noticed Nico's fall, as Lou Ellen lunged forwards grabbing Nico with a grunt before he could reach the floor. She tugged him up with the occasional addition of expletives before she dumped him upright in the seat next Will before fastening his seatbelt. A particularly sharp turn in the road sent Nico's limp form leaning into Will, with his head resting in the crook of his neck. Even though Will was not totally aware of the sensation, he could feel the cool presence against neck and subconsciously leaned his own head down to be closer to him.

Lou Ellen didn't seem to have notice how her fellow passengers were now sitting as she resumed debating with Cecil the pros and cons of wearing crocs. If he was awake, Will would have actually joined in with this discussion. The comfiness of his crocs had saved his life many times.

Cecil however was much more attuned than they all gave him credit for. His steely green eyes locked onto Will and Nico's entangled bodies in the back using the rear-view mirror, a sly smirk splitting his face. Seeing that smile, Will could easily see how he had been thrown out of 5 schools before camp.

The conversation abruptly changed to more serious matters, (from 'Are crocs better with or without socks?') as Cecil kept his eyes focussed on Will's sleeping body, his smirk falling in an uncharacteristic way.

"Hey Lou, you know what happened earlier?"

"Uh, bit more specific please? Quite a lot's happened recently."

"Oh come on! Seriously? Will's a light bender! I mean, I kind of suspected he might be able to do something like that, but this is just -"

"Amazing?"

"Uh no, I was gonna say scary." Will's heart plummeted as he heard his best friend admit his feelings. He suppressed a sob as the betrayal overcame his body at the feeling of rejection from someone who Will considered family. This was why he was reluctant to show anyone his powers.

"What why?" Will didn't think he'd ever seen Lou Ellen so shocked, her hands tightly gripping the frame of Cecil's chair in warning.

"It's just... This changes things. Coming on this quest we were a bunch of misfits kind of destined to fail. No offense, but we're not the exactly the highest achievers in combat or tactics or anything else, but then Nico, the freaking son of Hades, shows up! And now, Will's destined to be this amazing warrior. It's just, I don't know Lou. Where do we fit in to all of this? I want to help them but I don't think kleptomania can solve many problems."

Lou reclined in her seat, her expression unnaturally neutral as she pondered her response. She twirled purple mist absent mindedly over her fingers, the shimmer blurring their edges beyond recognition.

"Cecil, you already know the answer to that. We're here to look after Will. Protect them and haul these two's unconscious butts around so they don't get eaten by monsters." Cecil let out a soft chuckle at this as he rubbed his eyes aggressively.

"Besides, I think we're gonna have a much bigger role to play into this than we realise. Call it mystic insight or whatever, but we're needed on this quest just as much as these dummies." She gestured to the two demigods next to her, a smile briefly gracing her face as she noticed their proximity. Cecil gave a nod in the front of the car, before turning to face Lou.

"You know what this all means though right?" Lou Ellen looked at him as though he had dyed his hair bright green. Although, knowing her, she'd probably like that. Cecil carried on, unperturbed by her confusion.

"The prophecy. We know what it means now. 'Light and dark' must have something to do with Will and Nico. We just need to figure out what." Lou Ellen sat in silence, echoing Will's posture as he reeled at the information. This made no sense.

"You know Cec. I think that might have been an almost intelligent comment there." Cecil snorted as he rolled back in his seat to face the front.

"Gee thanks Lou."

Lou Ellen disbanded the purple mist on her hand by extending her fingers with an audible snap.

"Now all we need is for these lazy bums to wake up."

As though he were waiting for the command, Will's presence rushed back to his body. The startling sensations flooding his previously numb body caused him to jerk upright in his seat to the point where his seatbelt restrained him at the sharp movement, reacting as though this were a crash. Lou Ellen shrieked in surprise at Will's sudden movement, body tense with shock. Before she could ask him anything, Will felt a shift on his shoulder and he looked down to find Nico stirring, most likely woken by Will. Nico opened his eyes to narrow slits, fluttering them as though the light burned his retinas. When he finally roused fully, he took a second to notice that the orange lump he was laying on was actually breathing. He shot up as his cheeks flared in embarassment. Will's cheeks tinted in return as he avoided eye contact with him.

"Wha - Where -?" Nico muttered as he shook his head.

"We're on the way to Forks still. Your crazy zombie friend is driving. Think we should have about half an hour left at this rate." Cecil said in the front, a small smile playing on his lips again as he avoided Will's inquiring stare.

"Ah cool. Thanks J.A." Will saw the zombie's head rotate 180 degrees to see his master before his jaw shuddered, chattering a reply. Will cringed as they swerved a huge truck at the last minute. The zombie turned back to the road and Will only felt slightly more relieved by this.

Nico turned his gaze down, his hair hiding his expression as he played with the large gash in his jeans from the bullet.

"Ugh, these are trashed. I'm gonna go change them quick." He muttered before clambering over the back of the seats to reach the elongated space at the rear of the hearse.

"You don't have to go back there you know. I won't look I promise, I have enough self control." Will froze as he realised what he had said. Nico halted his actions and sat stock still as Cecil unsuccessfully attempted to stifle his laughter.

"Wow, how subtle." Lou Ellen muttered beside him as she attempted to hold in her own laughter. Will felt as though he would face palm himself right that second.

"Uh yeah, I just thought I'd get my jeans out my bag." Nico spoke quickly and ducked behind the seats as though he were hiding from the embarrassing situation. He soon joined them back on the seats of the car in fresh black skinny jeans. As he swung over the seat elegantly, Will noticed something.

"Hey Nico! Your leg! Is it -?" Nico prodded it lightly as though checking it, before nodding.

"Good as new. Seems like my doctor did a great job." Nico gave him a smirk and raised an eyebrow slightly. Will's cheeks flared once again at the compliment, unable to to string together a coherent response for a moment.

"Uh - Well. You're welcome. How are you feeling apart from that?" Nico sunk further back into his chair, his shoulder brushing Will's lightly. The soft touch brought a tremolo of energy in Will's body, his cells quivering at the feeling.

"I feel pretty decent to be honest. Just a bit tired." Will hummed lowly as he brought his hand up to Nico's forehead, ignoring the stirring in his body at the contact. Was it his imagination or did Nico lean into his touch? He brought his hand away reluctantly.

"You haven't got a temperature so I think the healing managed to fight off any sepsis. You should be fine." For now, Will thought grimly as he turned to watch their progress on the road. They seemed to keep on facing trouble and the quest had barely started.

Their breif reprieve lasted a pitiful length of time, as the signs for Forks counted down rapidly. Will couldn't help but wonder what was waiting for them. Suddenly Lou Ellen flew up in shock and her hands grasped the seat tightly.

"Woah. Ok guys, something's not right. I can't say what exactly but something's definitely wrong."

"Uh, maybe because we're going to visit the lair of the evil snow Queen? As uninvited guests might I add." Cecil asked with a wrinkled nose from the front seat.

"No, this is different. I don't... Oh wait! Hang on... Yeah that's it, over there. I know it sounds crazy guys but we have to go check it out. Something over there's emitting some crazy magic vibes."

They all stared out the hearse's windows, their jaws slack with shock. Lou Ellen had her finger pointing towards a looming ominous figure, surrounded by indistinct dots. Wait, were they moving?

"Uh Cec, is that a -" Will questioned, unsure if his eyes were deceiving him.

"Woah. That's one huge cow." Cecil muttered as he leaned as far forward as he could to see the statue.

Lou Ellen broke her transfixed gaze to glare harshly at Cecil. Will had the feeling that if she hadn't been so distracted by the magic around her she would have smacked him again.

"Its a buffalo you idiot. The world's largest buffalo to be exact."

"Uh... And you know that because?" Nico queried, almost sounding as though he didn't want to hear the answer. Will rolled his eyes before returning his attention to the statue.

"Because she's a nerd."

"Hey you can talk!"

"Guys seriously. Are we stopping or not. I need to let Jules know soon if we are." The buffalo was growing larger and larger by the second, Will could start to make out the colours of the tourists outfits.

"Yeah could be useful. We might find out something for later in the quest? Anyway I trust Lou's judgement. If she says we need to check it out then we do."

"So you're basically saying if something's goes wrong it's my fault?"

"Pretty much."

"Fab."

With an eerie chattering from Nico, they pulled over just in time. They were thrown forwards, dust screaming around them as the brakes grinded. After their insides had all resettled, they all made their way out towards the statue.

Lou Ellen was right, there was something unusual in the air. A tingling at the bottom of his spine, almost as if it were warning him, screaming at him to run. Of course as per usual the mortals were oblivious and continued to take selfies in front of it's hooves.

A slight movement drew Will's attention upwards until his neck was almost bent fully back. This time Will caught the movement. The buffalo's eye (which was probably the same size as their old truck) had twitched and was now locked onto Will's gaze.

"Uh guys, I think I know where the crazy magic vibes are coming from." The others stopped searching the area and collectively followed Will's line of sight, stilling as they realised what was wrong. Where what should have been a carved black, wooden eye, a smoking ruby eye stared down at them, the statue's wooden eyelid crumbling to ash at the high temperature.

"This should be fun." Nico muttered as he reached for his sword. Will wasn't entirely sure if he was being serious or not, but in his moment of hesitation Nico had vaulted off, racing to the buffalo with a rattling cry. Lou Ellen looked to Cecil and shrugged before they both drew their own weapons and joined the fight. Just as he was about to get his compact bow and arrows from his bag, a loud crash brought Will's attention towards Nico's whirling shape. He had managed to land a blow on it's leg (God's knew how he managed to get so high), but doing so had only managed to break away the wooden exoskeleton of the leg. The shifting of the wood could be heard as the sudden absence sent the other pieces crashing to the ground splintering around the beast. What was left behind was even more unnerving. Glinting bronze muscles blinded the group as they looked at the beast in horror. This would definitely be fun.

"Hey it looks like Manny and Danny from camp." Nico expertly managed to throw a death glare over his shoulder at Cecil whilst dodging various attacks. Will's ninja theory was seeming more and more plausible.

"You know, the Colchis bulls? The ones the Hephaestus cabins hacked and they're cool now, won't barbeque you. Wel,l much anyway."

"Not sure hacked is the right word." Will muttered as he finally brought out his bow, snapping the limbs into place before notching an explosive arrow. Will wasn't sure whether the charge would have any effect, especially with his aim, but it was better than standing there 'Dilly Dallying' as Chiron would say.

"You know what Cec. You're actually right." Will's last arrow hadn't even made a dent in the flank, so he notched an ordinary celestial bronze sharpened arrow and aimed for it's shoulder.

"Gees thanks. Why are you guys always so surprised?!"

"Because you're dumb." Lou Ellen shouted as she slashed wildly at the buffalo's hind hoof. It seemed as though she'd used up all her magic reserves for the day.

"Hey!"

"Not the point guys. If we know it's like the colchis bulls at camp then that means-"

" - we know how to beat it." Nico finished off, glancing over with apprehension.

"Aw how cute, they're already finishing each other's sentences." Cecil muttered to Lou as they passed each other earning a snigger. Will seriously hoped Nico hadn't heard that remark. He had to restrain the urge to make Cecil his new target.

Of course to make the situation even more chaotic, the mortals decided that now the danger was fully established, this would be a great time to react. With screams filling the air, they poured away from the buffalo in a stampede with the occasional cry of "Rabid Mooses." The mist was obviously working overtime in this area.

"Why is it always Mooses?" Cecil shouted in annoyance, lashing upwards at the buffalo's knee to give a loud metallic clang.

"Wait a minute. Or is it Meese?" Cecil stood still as he considered this possibility as though he had forgotten what was happening at the moment.

"Cecil, focus!" Nico shouted at him just as the beast's leg came within inches of standing on Cecil. He snapped back to attention in just enough time to dodge the blow, the metallic hoof ruffling his hair as it passed over head.

"What's the plan guys? We're not making a dent doing this." Lou Ellen shouted as she attempted to hack at the hind leg with her short sword. Will had to pause in notching a new arrow to think clearly.

"So, the colchis bulls are made of celestial bronze right?"

"Think so."

"That means there's not much that can have a big impact on it apart from intense heat and really corrosive acids like concentrated Hydrochloric Acid." Lou Ellen stopped mid-swing to turn and give Will an incredulous stare. She threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Great! And where are we supposed to find that?!" While her back was turned Nico had taken up Lou Ellen's attack position to protect her.

"You guys really need to work on your battle field focus." Nico swirled around the limb, his sword a deadly black blur as he slashed wildly.

Cecil suddenly jumped up and down, attempting to imitate a pogo stick.

"Hey guys. You know that time I kind of wanted to prank Drew and sort of broke into her safe in the cabin -" Cecil was wildly rummaging through his bag, the battle pushed to the back of his mind completely.

"Is this relevant in anyway Cec?" Will queried, host as his net arrow encased the horns of the buffalo. Whilst not entirely effective in restraining it (Will had initially been aiming to catch it's knees) the buffalo was definitely distracted by the action as it swung its head madly, trying to throw the net from it's head.

"Yeah it definitely is relevant. Because... I have this." He finally finished routing around in his bag, proudly brandishing a small glass bottle with an orange hazard triangle clearly visible even from where Will was standing.

"Do I even want to know why you brought that with you?" Will queried as he made his way over to Cecil, the buffalo's still distracted by the net so he could make a clean route.

"To defeat huge metal cows -" Will breifly heard Lou Ellen scream that it was a buffalo along with many expletives.

"Besides, just be grateful I do have it. What's the plan then?" Will had reached his side by this point and had already taken the bottle off of Cecil (quite gingerly, hoping to avoid smashing it).

"I can get it up near it's head or boddg but I'm not sure if the impact alone will break the bottle. It should, but I don't want to take our chances."

"So what you're saying is -"

"I need you to do what you do best Cec. Blow stuff up." Cecil's face split into a delighted expression, practically shaking with excitement as he took the acid projectile Will had managed to cobble together from an arrow and one of his rucksack straps.

"Leave it with me, I'll sort something out."

Will stood tall in front of Cecil providing cover fire to protect his friend as he played with explosives. The buffalo was getting seriously annoyed by this point and was swinging it's hooves and horns menacingly, gouging deep trenches in the ground which the demigods only managed to dodge by millimeters.

"Got it!" Cecil shouted as he shoved the arrow into Will's outstretched hand. Will quickly loaded the arrow, the heavy head throwing his initial posture but he soon adjusted to the unusual arrow and aimed for the buffalo's head. Of course, Will being Will, the arrow completely missed his target and instead hit the buffalo's chest. The second the acid clinked against the bronze hide, a percussive sound rolled through the beast and down through the ground as Cecil's charge exploded. When the smoke had cleared (leaving a smoking Nico and Lou Ellen), they all stood in silence as they admired their work. A huge gaping tear in the metal poured black oil all over the ground in rivers.

The buffalo seemed to loose all its strength and careened to the side, falling with a huge crash as it's pieces scattered across the floor.

They stood in silence for what seemed like five minutes as they all caught their breath before Cecil gave a loud descending whistle.

"That's gonna take a lot of clean up."

 **AN: we're nearly at Khione's woo! I've got a bit of a shock in store for you there so it's worth the wait. Also I'm not sure if anybody spotted this, but I've managed to name my centipede monster after 'Shrimpzilla' as Leo calls it, but oh well I'm gonna keep it as Scholopendra because it's technically accurate haha. Anyway hope you enjoyed it!**


	13. 13 - Nico

**AN: Yo yo guys, hope you're all having a good day/ week/ month... Song of the chapter is Learn my lesson by Daughtry (I swear this song is literally written for Nico haha). Sorry for the gap in updates again, but here's chapter 13. Hope you all enjoy it. Solangelo fluff coming up, plus major drama going down in the next chapter.**

 **Chapter** **13 - Tiny Miny goes on a roadtrip**

 **Nico's POV**

Luckily for them, they didn't have to clean up the molten mess that was once a buffalo. The clattering of the metal shells filled the air as they quivered on the floor in a messy pile. As Nico observed the wreckage he spotted an upturned piece of what could only have been the buffalo's flank, the inverted metal was dull in colour from where the interior metal had been protected from exposure to oxygen, but that wasn't what caught Nico's attention. A small indentation was present in the metal, a very deliberate carving that was trying to convey something. Nico took a tentative step towards the steaming pile to get a closer look at the scraps, lifting his feet high to dodge the junk littering the ground around him. Unfortunately Tartarus was once again being a nuisance (that's the abridged version of his thoughts), and the metal had dissipated into golden dust, the pile melting into particles that were carried on the wind like some kind of evil mushroom spores.

"Did anybody see that?" Nico asked, tearing his eyes off the spot with frustration. He knew that the mark had been important and the feeling niggled inside of him. He was forgetting something, a message from the past, a vision. Something interconnected with this. He just had to figure out what.

"Uh, see what Neeks?" Lou Ellen said, an eyebrow raised quizzically. Will inched his way towards him as though he were about to check for a temperature again. Nico waved him off in annoyance before stomping back towards the hearse, almost smirking as he spotted Jules Albert hanging his elbow out of the window in an uncanny impression of a mortal, ignoring the rotting flesh.

"Doesn't matter. And don't call me Neeks." He muttered as he clambered into the front of the car, his thoughts reeling as he tried to piece together what he'd found. What did it mean? Nico could of sworn he heard Cecil whisper something about someone being 'stroppy' but he decided to ignore the comment and try to calm down.

A short rap on the window caught his attention and he turned to come face to face with a pair of startling blue eyes that melded perfectly with the sky behind them. Their brief time out in the sun had somehow managed to darkened Will's freckles even more, with them now splattering all over his nose and cheeks as though a paint brush had been flicked at his face. The freckles managed to make Will impossibly cuter (although Nico would never admit this out loud). Nico had half a mind to leave the window shut, but visions of Will smashing the window to speak to him made him think better of it. He was definitely stubborn.

"Hey death boy."

"Hey sunshine." Nico muttered sarcastically, trying to dampen his excitement as Will gave him that lopsided smile.

"What's wrong? I mean, not as in you're wrong, but as in what's wrong with you. No, not like that, and not medically speaking, but as in -"

"Will, you're rambling." Will sighed and lowered himself to lean on the ledge of the car window, his whole body sloped towards Nico in a way that made his heart race uncontrollably.

"Right, yeah sorry. I do that sometimes if I'm tired, or hungry, or both. Or worried. My ADHD flares up and starts playing havoc." Nico held up a hand to try and stem his word-flow.

"Wait, worried. I get the others but why are you worried?" Will shuffled before looking into Nico's eyes, his emotions laid bare for anyone to see. For the first time in his life, Nico didn't have to be a son of Hades to see someone's soul. Nico felt like something melted inside him.

"I'm worried about you death boy." Nico froze in place, unsure of how to respond.

"Uh, thanks?" Will rolled his eyes in exasperation, flipping his palms up to the sky before flopping them back against the car in defeat.

"And that's why. You think the world's out to get you, but we're here ready for you if only you'd open up to us. Bottling up your feelings is never the solution. Not to mention the effects it can have on your health, like did you know being stressed can cause hair loss in some cases and even greying when the melanocytes -"

"Will." Nico interrupted, gently nudging Will's elbow with his own as he attempted to suppress a smile.

"Right, yeah sorry. Did I mention I was tired? Anyway, we should probably get going now and I'll stop talking, but Nico -" Will reached out a hand and grasped onto Nico's arm tightly as though he were his lifeline, or maybe Will was his.

"- remember what I said. We're here for you, even about silly things like seeing things that may or may not be there." Will ignored Nico's attempted protests and ploughed on.

"Or other stuff, like general life stuff or like crushes or-" Will continued to ramble as Nico eyes widened at the casual toss of relationships into the conversation. How would Will react if he found out he was gay. Nico would never let it come to that, he was too afraid of loosing Will so early in their relationship.

Tuning back into his surroundings, Nico noticed that Will was still ranting about random things. He decided to put him out of his misery.

"Woah there Sunshine, I get your point. Now go sit down before you talk yourself to death." Nico smirked at his poor word choice. He seriously needed to tone down the death puns. Will raised an eyebrow in a judgemental manner, his mouth tilting slightly as he attempted to suppress a smile.

"Very funny Death boy. I think your puns could be the death of me." Nico rolled his eyes and rewound the handle to close the window (a disadvantage of riding in spooky old fashioned hearse's was that they didn't have electric windows). Will let out an indignant shout, yanking back his arms before they could be trapped in the rapidly closing window.

It turned out that their automaton distraction had only added a few extra hours to their journey and through some sketchy undead translations, Cecil had managed to deduce that they had an hour until they reached Grand Forks. Nico didn't know how the others felt, but his dinner had certainly started to wear off by now and he was hoping there was some decent places to grab lunch in Forks. The journey was mostly uneventful, with Will napping in the back, his head lolling back over the seat in what must have been an uncomfortable position. His long legs were bunched up as he sat behind the driver's seat with Jules Albert needing significantly more leg room than Nico. Mostly Nico ignored the babbling conversation between Lou Ellen and Cecil, their inside jokes and strange sense of humour lost on him. Nico wondered briefly if the two would ever become a couple, they definitely seemed to have a close relationship. Mind you, he was definitely no expert in romance.

Amongst the random conversations about the best pranks ever pulled off (in which the Stoll brothers featured a disturbing amount), Nico latched onto their comments about their earlier confrontation. Maybe he would find out if they had noticed anything unusual about the buffalo.

"The size of the horns on that thing, you can only imagine the size of other parts."

"Cec! Trust you to think about things like that!"

"I was actually referring to it's brain size if you must know. Gods you have a dirty mind."

"Well maybe you should word things more carefully in future." Nico decided at this point that maybe he should go back to ignoring the conversation. He wasn't quite adjusted to the open discussions of the twenty first century.

Nico could hear a rustling behind him as Lou Ellen presumably rooted around in her never ending bag. She sighed as she produced an object from her bag, a muffled noise could be heard through the car when Nico focussed intently.

"It's a shame these two couldn't have met, I feel like they would have really got along." Cecil sniggered before joining in.

"Like two bulls in a pod?" Nico's thoughts whirred as his mind started to piece together what Lou Ellen had in her hands. He turned around sharply to confirm his suspicions.

"Lou, please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Unfortunately he didn't need her confirmation, he could already see the small woolen figure beating against the walls of the glass jar, his angry bleats fogging up the surface.

"It's Tiny Miny. I couldn't just leave him out in that field. He might have been stepped on."Cecil gasped, covering his mouth in horror.

"Or cannibalised by a grazing cow. Yeah good choice Lou."

"You guys know that 'Tiny Miny' here tried to kill us yesterday right?"

"Yeah but now he's small. And cute." Cecil elaborated helpfully, touching his fingertip to the jar to coo at the miniature minotour before drawing it back sharply as the beast rammed his horns aggressively against that part of the glass.

"Pretty sure that's not good welfare." Nico muttered as he turned back to the front of the car, giving up on this dead end conversation.

"Like you'd know about welfare,you tried to slice the poor thing up earlier, how's that any better huh?!" Lou Ellen demanded. She seemed oddly protective of the beast for some reason.

"That's because it's a monster." Nico deadpanned. Surely they weren't all fawning over the tiny killing machine. He wondered what Will would make of it when he found out. Lou Ellen gasped in horror and sheltered the jar from Nico, as if hiding him from offense. The blocked view of the jar seemed to aggravate the minotaur more as the muffled clanging intensified.

"How dare you! He didn't mean to try and eat us earlier, did you little guy?" Nico decided he'd had enough with this conversation and abruptly turned around. He turned just in time to pass a sign reading 'Welcome to Grand Forks'.

"Thank Furies for that." He could have sworn that at that comment Will shifted and muttered something about language in his sleep. Maybe he was slightly more aware of his situation than Nico gave him credit for.

Parked in a small tourist car park, they all hastily piled out of the car glad to breathe in fresh air (that didn't smell like rotting flesh). Cecil had woken Will up once they were in the outskirts by slapping his face, assuring them all that it was a tradition. Unsurprisingly Will was less than impressed. The more time Nico spent with Lou Ellen and Cecil, the more he realised that everything they did seemed to involve violence. It was hard to imagine Will, soppy, sunshiney, cute Will, ever being friends with them, but here they were.

"Sooo... What now?" Lou asked, searching the area for potential clues of what do next. An unspoken truth settled over the group as they observed the town, something sinister lurking in the setting. Frost glinted elegantly on the shales of buildings, clinging to gutters in icicles that were long enough for Cerberus to play fetch with. Their feet crunched ominously as they left shallow dents in the snow around them.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I need lunch." Will muttered, his right hand balled into his eye attempting to rub away the sleep.

They weren't as extravagant with their meal this time, deciding that they should take as little time as possible and so bought meal deals from the local convenience store. They sat eating their sandwiches in relative silence, with pigeons swirling around their feet cooing indignantly, their small talons leaving light tracks in the dusting of snow on the ground. Lou Ellen seemed to enjoy their presence, greeting them and offering chunks of her lunch, even shouting at Cecil when he tried to shoo one away.

A bitter chill rested in the air around them, biting at Nico's skin through his jeans and jacket making him shiver gently. He really missed his aviator jacket at times like this. Sitting beside him, Will turned as Nico gave an involuntary shudder his brow furrowing in concern. Nico could see the mental battle playing across Will's features as he remained still for a moment before something obviously snapped in him and he drew closer to Nico, his body resting gently against his side in a way that made Nico want to curl into Will and cling to his arm like a koala.

"How are you so warm?" Nico said as he gave into his desires and curled up slightly against Will, he seemed to almost purr in appreciation. Will's arm twitched as though he were considering pulling Nico closer, but to Nico's disapointment he stayed as he was.

"Hmm... Son of Apollo remember? Sun god?" Will glanced at Nico his mouth quirking slightly and with a look he had rarely witnessed aimed at him, so much so that it was hard to place. Affection.

Once the chill of the metal bench got too much for them to bear, they decided to move along from the frozen scene and carry on their quest. The warmth of embraceeft behind for a much more grotesque adventure.

"Where to then Dora?" Will asked as he gave Cecil an expectant look. Lou Ellen and Nico snickered at the nickname, enjoying Cecil's look of disgust.

"Uh no. That's not happening. Plus how should I know? It's not we have the coordinates for the frozen fortress of doom." Frozen gusts alien to the usual August weather rolled past them, biting through Nico's clothes once again with a vengeance.

"What about follow the cold?" Nico suggested, his idea surprising even him as he pointed in the direction the wind had come from.

"This is when Jason would have been helpful." Nico levelled a lethal glare at Cecil, making him cower in fear before trudging up the frozen street, buildings looming imposingly over him, mocking his insignificance.

After a few false turns and accusing comments they eventually came to a halt, standing in a line up that comic books would feature as their front cover, faces set in determination as they looked at their goal.

"We made it! And with time to spare, how great are we?" Nico physically cringed at Cecil's acclaimed victory.

"Don't jinx it Dora, we still need to get in. Gods know what could happen when we're in there." Lou Ellen recahrd across to slap Cecil's arm before returning g to her original imposing stance.

"So we just gonna stand here and wait to get caught or are we going in?" Will glanced questioning at Nico as they considered Lou Ellen. No obvious threats had presented themselves as of yet, there weren't many remaining options for them.

"Let's do this sh-"

"Uh! Language!!" Will interrupted in a shockingly stern tone before approaching the glaring white door before them.

 **AN: Slightly smaller chapter than usual but I felt this was the right place to stop. Let me know if you enjoyed it :) I'll be back soon.**


	14. 14 - Will

**AN: Yo everyone, hope you're enjoying your summer.**

 **Thank** **you for your review a-halfblood-with-attitude! I really enjoyed writing that bit as well haha. Glad to hear you're still enjoying it :)**

 **So song of the chapter is Titans by Omnia and Alex Sonata, because it's basically sick haha and the title sort of relates. Hate that I even have to do this, but here's a warning that this chapter contains a character dressed as the opposite sex (not necessarily in drag, you'll have to wait and see). Also language warning for anyone that's bothered (nothing majorly offensive). Hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 14 - The evil snow Queen (Not Elsa!)**

 **Will's POV**

Word of warning to anyone out there, never tempt fate. Especially on a quest and especially when dealing with Greek mythology. Whether it was the Fates punishing Cecil's cockiness, or a pure coincidence, things quickly went downhill from their triumphant arrival at the dilapidated snow fortress. The white rotten window frames clattering in agitation as freezing blasts rattled the glass ruthlessly.

Well, no time like the present. Will thought before stepping towards the door with his fist outstretched.

"Wait, waitwaitwaitwait - wait!" Cecil leapt in front of Will, his arms and fingers splayed attempting to block the way before he could knock on the door like a guide selling cookies. Will startled at the loud interruption and stumbled backwards, almost toppling down the tall steps.

"Are we seriously gonna just knock and see if she lets us in? Really guys? The words 'evil goddess' ring any bells?" Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow at Cecil in an unimpressed manner, she seemed to be restraining herself more today and hitting him less which was always good.

Will pursed his lips, and scratched the hairline above his Atlas vertebra before turning to face the others. Cecil did actually have a point, maybe they didn't give him enough credit.

"We should throw you up at the window instead and then when you crash through the glass they'll be so surprised and -"

Yeah nevermind. He was definitely still an idiot.

"What other options have we got though? Apart -" he turned to Nico to stare him down, making Will feel as though he were having a staring competition with a panther.

"From anything vaguely shadow travel-ly. You barely managed to get us all out of that restaurant and I don't want to risk you doing something like that again." Will added, toning down his glare to a hopefully more empathetic glance. Nico seemed to be embarrassed as he turned his face down, watching as he shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Yeah I don't even feel if I could do anything at the moment anyway. Even if my doctor did let me." He sassed at Will with a slight smile. Will noticed Cecil and Lou Ellen sharing a shocked look at Nico's admit to defeat but he ignored them as ever. The words 'Doctor's orders' floated around Will's head as he attempted to string together a sentence. His mind was still not quite up to speed with his body after his earlier ADHD spree.

"Uhh - uh Yeah. So let's walk away from the front and try and find another way in."

"I might be able to help with that."

"Dad!?"

Before them stood a tall figure with golden tumbling hair and eyes that could put the sky to shame. Their tan seeming to instantly bring up the temperature of the frozen lands. But that wasn't what had caught Will's attention.

Apollo was dressed as a woman. High heels, make-up, the lot.

Apollo pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes as though considering his options.

"Less of that William, but yes." Will vaguely heard a choking sound behind him and spun to find Nico spluttering in shock, his eyes wider than he'd ever seen them before.

"Hello again Nico." Nico flushed at the mention and Will felt an unknown sensation crawl inside of him.

"Wait you guys have met?"

"Yes yes. But there's little time now, I'm sure you two will catch up with that later. For now, I need to speak to my son if that's alright with your fellow quest mates?" Will turned to find Nico still frozen in place and Lou Ellen and Cecil in a half bow, half curtsy type affair. They straightened as they nodded to one another before nodding to the deity.

"Fab." Apollo whisked Will around the corner by his arm until they were hidden away from the others by the tall buildings.

"So..." Will tried to put his confused thoughts into an intelligible sentence.

"Are you still my dad or did you not want me to call you that? Not that I mind, because I don't. It's completely up to you, but just so I know, you know and just -"

"William." Despite the freezing temperatures of the day, Will felt a warm feeling inside of him at the use of his full name. Only his father had ever called him that. He met Apollo's gaze and marvelled at how well he managed to pull this look off.

"Relax I'm still your dad. Although I am rather impressed that I can pull something this look off. I think I make quite the attractive woman don't you?" Will's mind raced for a suitable non incriminating answer.

"Uhhh -"

"Oh right, yes nevermind that." Apollo fiddled with a golden curl as Will struggled to understand what he had just said, what did that mean?

"So anyway, I'm here in disguise so that Dear old Dad doesn't smite me where I stand. You know with the whole 'You are the cause of the entire giant war and you shall pay' fiasco, he's wouldn't be happy if he found out that I had come to see you. So I'm here as Louis." He flourished at the end of his sentence as though expecting a round of applause from Will.

"Louis?" Will asked with a disdainful look.

"You know, as in Apol-Louis? No?" Will ignored his dad's awful humour and carried on.

"And Zeus won't recognise you... Because you're a woman?" Will trailed off with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly. He'd probably try to bed me before getting any vague recognition knowing his observation skills." Apollo shuddered at the thought, making his golden choker rattle as the chains dangling down the front clanged together.

"Anyway, enough about my marvellous disguise and more about you. How's it going so far?" Will was having trouble focussing on his father's words as the golden eyeliner lining his blue orbs glinted in the light.

"Uh - Yeah, yeah. It's um, going ok. We're just about to go into Khione's lair but yeah." Will trailed off, chewing the inside of his cheek at the awkward situation. He had rarely spoken to his dad for so long before, he was finding it hard to keep up the conversation.

"Ah fab. And what about your team, are you all getting on well?" Apollo wiggled his eyebrows almost suggestively and Will couldn't help but feel a race of panic. He was obviously trying to imply something and Will's heart raced at the thought, he couldn't know could he?

Apollo smiled sadly almost as though he had heard Will's last thought. Thoroughly disturbed, Will struggled for an answer.

"Ugh, uh yeah we're all fine. I mean, Lou Ellen and Cecil fight all the time but that's perfectly normal for them and then Nico..." He trailed off trying to think of what to say.

"Nico's just... Nico." He smirked at the end, snorting at how bristly he could be at times but still manage to be an adorable fluff ball.

Apollo smiled a true smile at Will, reaching out a hand to place on Will's shoulder to convey his feelings.

"Will, you have nothing to be ashamed of my boy. I could hardly judge you anyway, surely you've heard the stories of my courtships over the years?" Will blushed, remembering the often crude tales. Laughing as Lee read the stories to him in history class in stupid voices, attempting to impersonate Apollo's lovers. A wave of sadness rolled through him as he remembered the simpler times shared with his brother.

"Yeah I know the ones."

"So, you know where I,along with many others, of our era stand on this." Apollo smiled at Will and gave his shoulder a squeeze before letting go.

"As nice as it is to speak to you William, my time is growing short as I'm sure yours must be as well. So I have another matter to address while I am here." A feeling of dread coiled in Will's peritoneal cavity.

"Have you mastered your gifts? As cliché as that is." Apollo shook his head and gave a slight eye roll at himself before turning back to a stumped Will.

"Um, not really. I mean, I can explode with enough light to fill a room which is interesting, but apart from that."

"No, no, light is good. That's where everything starts. After all, light is the most important thing to existence is it not? Without light, there would be no life. No, light is good. Be patient William, and in time you will find your way." Apollo snorted as though he had made an amusing quip but quickly calmed back down. He glanced up at Will as though seeing him for the first time since their meeting began. A sad look settled across his features, his mouth pursed with emotion. Will could have sworn he heard the distant rumble of thunder, but then again it could have beensomeone dragging dustbins. He never could tell the difference.

"Oh William, I am sorry son. I fear this may all be my fault. You were not destined for this path. My father has meddled too much with the Fates and I fear the consequences. If only I could, Well if only Zeus would, - But alas, he won't." Will was starting to feel nervous at the severity in his father's tone, he had never seen him this serious in his life. Even in their first, very strange, meeting. Silence settled over the two as Will fought the urge to ask questions, afraid to hear the answers.

"You must forge your own destiny my son. I can give you no further guidance in this." His eyes clouded over breifly in pain and Will felt the urge to comfort the God. Before the could act, Apollo refocused on Will once more, his gaze intense.

"I only know that your heritage will serve you well in your quest." He smirked at the last part.

"Although, I can help with your current predicament. I will teleport you all into the building to find your foe. Nasty one that one." The word foe echoed around Will's head, the word feeling important as it bounced against his skull.

"But apart from this, I can offer no more assistance. This quest is your own making." Will smiled at his father, his past feelings and awkwardness forgotten as he pulled Apollo in for a hug. The god seemed reasonably surprised before settling and awkwardly holding Will in an embrace. Held in the wooden arms of his Father, Will breifly wondered if this was the first contact Apollo had experienced in a long time.

"I know I'm not always there for you William, but look at the man you've become without me." He held Will at arms length and smiled warmly at him before ruffling his hair affectionately.

"Now, let's get you into the evil lair."

Everything went according to plan. Unless you count what happened after they arrived inside the building. Apollo had delivered on his offer, teleporting them into the residence with very little nausea from the crew (excluding Cecil). Unfortunately, Apollo had failed to check where abouts in the building he was sending them. This left them standing in a tight line directly facing Khione herself, her minions seated behind Will in some sort of meeting.

The previous chaotic chatter settled as the room realised that they weren't alone. Will shivered as he felt every eye in the cramped hall turn to them, carnal teeth baring in anticipation, their patience as they waited for orders already wearing thin. In the brief pause of silence before the storm Will noted the way the room curved around them, the ceiling towering to accommodate a Cyclops of Tyson's statute. Unfortunately for them, the majority of the Cyclops present were a few feet over that so were forced to hunch over and glare at the group with their head held on it's side. Hundreds of monsters were crammed into the room and Will felt a growing feeling of panic as he saw the group extending into the tall, flaking hallways of the house behind them. They were very, very outnmbered and very, very screwed.

"Oh dam." Lou Ellen muttered as he glanced around the room slowly, keeping her main focus from directly staring at the monsters as though if she only used her peripheral vision then they would ignore her presence. Cecil stood slightly hunched next to her, his face still slightly resembling a Wood Nymph's hue as he recovered from the abrupt transport. Despite this, he managed to clutch his sheathed sword, the blade dangling precariously from his belt.

The least affected by the travel was, cue lack of surprise, Nico. He stood in a near squat, his obsidian blade already out and brandishing in a deadly shard of smoke towards any monster that dared to challenge him. Will was definitely glad that he was on their side. Nico caught Will's lingering gaze and rolled his eyes slightly before stiffening in his defensive routine.

"What is it?" Will whispered to him, leaning down to hear the answer.

"It... It smells of death in here. So many." Nico looked horrified as he glanced to the boundaries of the room, the glinting furniture Will had earlier seen now taking the shape of thousands of frozen statues. People captured in their final moments of agony as they begged for the torment to end, mouths open wide in screams.

"Wellthis is unexpected." A tinkling voice echoed around the room. If you didn't know who was speaking, you could almost mistake the person for being a child with the high pitched words piercing the space.

They spun in place, fixing their gazes on the Goddess, tendrils of icy clouds snaking out to turn them around even if they didn't want to. Seated on a large throne of ice, her alabaster skin melding perfectly with the scene to create the image of an elegant and imposing regent surveying her subjects. Will felt himself breifly wondering how she avoided frostbite in her gluteus maximus before realising how stupid he was being and refocusing on the situation.

"That was the idea." Will matched her volume, hoping to sound confident and as though they had a plan for randomly arriving in the middle of her hall.

"I'm sure." She muttered as twirled her fingers absentmindedly, the air around them sparkling beautifully with miniscule crystals of ice.

"I must admit -" she paused breifly to eye the group with disdain.

"I'm surprised that you made it this far. My distraction was supposed to obtain you for much longer." Will looked at the others with his mouth hanging open wide.

"Wait. The buffalo, that was you?"

"In part yes, but sadly I can't take all the credit for that marvellous creation. One of my finest engineers was responsible for that little project." The way she emphasised 'engineer' made it sound as though the person was much more than that to her, her curling sneer adding to the image.

"That was nothing. We beat that piece of shit in seconds flat." Cecil boasted, bristling forwards in an agressive front. Khione raised an ebony brow at the meager demigod before her before she fell forwards laughing, slouching over her arms as her cackle filled the hall. Cecil froze in his tracks, seemingly frozen as he admired Khione in a way Will had never seen before, as though he were fascinated by her. Will was unable to see her beauty as her malicious intentions sparkled beneath the surface.

Lou Ellen stepped forward, darting a quick almost unpercievable glance towards Cecil filled with what Will could only describe as hurt, before fixing Khione with a steely glare, her balled fists glowing violet at her sides as her magic swirled angrily. The motion vaguely reminded Will of a cat's tail swishing when it was irritated and fighting off the urge to pounce.

"Why are you doing this Khione?"

"Whatever do you mean little girl?" Khione staved off her laughter and leaned towards Lou Ellen, her whole expression condescending to the point where Will felt like running from the room.

"First of all, not little and not girl. I'm sixteen thank you very much!" She jerked her finger agressively towards Khione, leaving them all shocked. Nico seemed as though he were seriously considering congratulating her.

"Secondly, are you dense? You know exactly what I mean. You sided against the Gods before and that didn't end so well. You've been defeated, what is it? Three times now by us 'Puny demigods'. Why do this to yourself again?" Will's mouth dropped in shock as he regarded Lou Ellen. Surely he hadn't just seen her goading a Goddess while they were at her mercy.

Appearing shocked for a moment, Khione paused briefly as she admired Lou Ellen with new found respect. With a snap as fast as a chasing winter breeze, Khione's expression contorted to one of thick fury. Her once startling brown eyes clouding with what Will could only describe as frost.

"How dare you!" Khione drew out her words as she slowly stalked towards them, her eyes narrowing like a Lynx approaching her prey, trying so hard not to startle it until she can make the final jump.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Well you're the evil snow Queen aren't you? Which Disney totally ripped off so I can see why you're - so... Mad?" Cecil trailed off as Khione dragged a porcelain finger across his cheek bone, making him shudder violently as ice crystals spread rapidly across his face. Khione stared into Cecil's startled face before apparently deciding against freezing his face off (quite literally). Cecil gasped as he released his held breath, rubbing his face to try and bring the warmth back.

"No, insolent child. I am the Goddess of snow, Daughter of Boreas. The only reason I was defeated by your comrades was because I didn't turn them to ice statues the minute they set foot in my house. You're lucky I'm interested in your knowledge otherwise you would have died long ago." Will shared a terrified look with Nico, seeking some sort of guidance or support. The son of Hades seemed to draw himself up as he saw Will's expression, protectiveness oozing from his stance.

"What knowledge? That's why we came here in the first place, to seek knowledge. We can't possibly know more than you." Nico sassed as he threw his sword slightly to emphasise his point. Khione smirked evilly at Nico, scrutinising him intently. To his credit, Nico appeared to remain unaffected by her intense glare, his dark eyes soldering dangerously.

"Ah, Son of Hades. I've looked forward to meeting you. You are a legend among your kind." The monsters shifted imperceptibly as Nico drew himself taller still, his sword seeming even more imposing than before.

"I'm sure intelligent mortals such as yourselves will understand in time what I mean." She shot a murderous glance towards Will, sending shivers crawling across his body. If he hadn't have known better, Will would have likened it to the beginning symptoms of a viral infection.

"In time. For now, you will have to consider my words... And decide if you do know anything that could be... Of use." She trailed behind the group as she talked, sidling up disturbingly close beside Will. He stiffened in place as he attempted to avoid eye contact. Stroking his arm softly as she left, Khione signalled to a group of eight Cyclops at the borders of the room to come forwards. Will drew his bow rapidly and strung an arrow before glancing at the others.

The group started at the sudden change in reception and drew closer together, weapons bristling defensively as they tried to protect one another. Standing back to back, Will couldn't see the others expressions, but he could tell from their tense postures that they were fearing the worst.

They were severely outnumbered and would either be captured, or die.

As Will said earlier, they were very, very screwed.

 **AN: Thanks for reading everybody, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter won't be too long away. There's a big surprise in the next chapter that I've been hinting towards throughout the story so far, so you don't need to wait much longer. Anyway enjoy your day :)**


	15. 15 - Nico

**AN: Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me so far and also big thanks for the favourites and follows and reviews, they really help me to keep writing :)**

Synthetic Crawler - **Not sure if youre at this chapter or not but I couldn't agree more haha. These guys melt my soul.**

Hullanta - **Patience is a virtue... Haha only joking, the major plot bomb is dropped in this chapter, there's another to come soon. In regard to updates, I'm kind of sporadic which is annoying I know sorry, but I try to bash out a chapter when I'm available. Glad you're enjoying it so far :) And thank you, I feel like there's so much more to Will than just sunshines and smiles, maybe a bit of lingering darkness somewhere beneath.**

Weirdo - **I feel mean calling you that haha, but glad you're enjoying it! It means a lot and and thank you so much :) I'll try to keep it up haha.**

 **So everyone, major shite is about to hit the fan so I hope you're ready! Song of the chapter is Welcome to my Life by Simple plan, an olden but golden one haha.**

 **Chapter 15 - Chapter 15 - No powers my ass**

 **Nico's POV**

Nico was learning just how quickly a situation could turn from being relatively decent, to becoming completely and utterly screwed. That time was shortened significantly if you were a demigod. Especially if said demigod was on a doomed quest with a group of teens who were incapable of keeping their mouths shut.

They trudged along the corridor in silence, their hands bound tightly and a gag placed over the unconscious Lou Ellen's mouth (the monsters had learned the hard way what damage she could do if she were able to cast a spell). Cold drops fell on Nico's hair from the dark ceiling above, the frost across it almost invisible to the naked eye until it sprung an attack and dropped on Nico once more. The water crawled through his hair, making him wish his hands were free so he could convince himself there were no stow-away creatures lurking in it. Nico walked on, refusing to acknowledge any of this, his unrelenting, seething gaze instead focused on the figure in front of him. The chains connecting the line of demigods jangled as the person in front stumbled over a stray rock (Nico would later come to realise that the rock was rather suspiciously shaped like a skull). Stupid, long legged, clumsy ... It took a few confused glances from the guarding Cyclops for Nico to realise that he was ranting in Italian, he found himself oddly not caring.

Will slouches in front of him, his head hanging low in an emotion rarely displayed by him. Nico had difficulty pinpointing the exact expression, but decided that it was shameful, almost guilty. It felt disconcerting to see him so, well, human after what Nico had just witnessed. Will in this moment looked no more than a fourteen year old mortal would look, dragging his once yellow converse along the floor dejectedly as he deliberately avoided looking back to the simmering son of Hades. This only served to piss Nico off further.

Nico's mind drifted back to the fight in the meeting room, clangs of swords mingling with roars and cries of pain. Battle cries occasionally punctuating the air. Nico was working overtime to cover Will as he couldn't use his bow in such a close proximity. He darted around in a whirl of death, his sword leaving a trail of souls snaking after it like some sort of evil hoover. Nico wasn't entirely sure how it happened, but one second Lou Ellen was spouting a hex (probably involving pigs in some way), the next she lay sprawled in a crumpled heap on the floor with Cecil screaming her name in alarm.

Will darted from behind Nico, managing to dart nimbly between the monsters (despite his tall stature) and run to her side. Fighting a horde of thirty telkhines off, Nico managed to keep a distracted eye on distant mop of blonde hair as he decimated the offending troop. He ran his tan hands over her body checking for injuries, biting his bottom lip in concentration. After sifting through his bag clumsily he managed to dig out a square of ambrosia and after raising her slightly off the ground, proceeded to ram the divine food in her mouth. A rogue blow from the largest warrior telkhine caught Nico unaware and forced him to retrain his focus on the group but whilst fighting, he felt as though something was happening just outside his peripheral, almost as though the sun had broken out from the clouds behind him but he remained untouched in the shade.

A shout of primal fear rang through the air, catching Nico's attention as a swarm the size of Camp half blood's dining hall rallied and descended on the already struggling Cecil. They were doomed.

Will stood beside Lou Ellen, his fists balled at his side as he glared menacingly at the crowd as though his stare alone would keep the monsters from attacking. Of course they kept running, not even seeming to care about Will's attention.

"WILL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The words ripped from Nico without his permission, his panic driving his body. Will turned to face Nico breifly, his face morphed into what could only be apology before a change took Nico aback. In the split second before he turned, Will's eyes, his beautiful sky blue eyes, had turned pure white. Nico turned away as his own eyes burned, feeling as though he had stared into the sun. What the Hades is happening?

The room exploded into light, leaving Nico completely blind. He fumbled around, his sword lowered to avoid accidentally stabbing a friend. A pair of strong hands grabbed Nico making him flinch and prepare to attack this son of a -

"Nico, it's me. Come on let's get out of here." He recognised the soft spoken voice instantly despite the cries of pain and outrage from the monsters around them.

"Will, how - ?"

"There's no time. Help me with Lou Ellen please?" They reached the other two members and dragged them towards an unseen exit. Nico was trusting Will entirely in this alien landscape.

 _No powers my ass._

The blinding whitewash began to dilute slightly as Will panted from holding the facade up, they needed to hurry. Nico could vaguely see the outline of the hallway door before them and ploughed towards it, now dragging Will as well as the light-show sapped his strength steadily. They were going to make it.

A sudden barricade forced Nico to skid to a halt, almost tipping forward with the momentum as he stared at the figure before them, not quite believing their luck.

"Oh bravo young heroes. Much better than I anticipated, alas you forgot. I am the Goddess of snow, I would not be worthy of such a title if I could not navigate a mere blizzard." The Cyclops roughly grabbed the demigods and strung them up together.

"Oh aphòdeuma." Nico muttered as they were pulled off into the corridor, the remaining light in the room being snuffed out as Will gave up with a heavy sigh. They were so close.

That left them where they were now, trudging along the soggy corridors with Lou Ellen being carried rag doll style, Cecil moping behind and Nico glaring holes into Will's back. Why hadn't Will told him? He of all people understood freaky powers, why hadn't he told him.

The answer was blindingly obvious to Nico but he refused to accept it. Will didn't trust him. He still made people feel like they couldn't trust him after very thing that had happened, after he'd tried so hard. Even Will.

The air around Nico stilled for a moment, as though caught in a weather front, providing a brief moment of silence before beings assaulted by tumultuous storms. A foreign warmth clung to the walls around him, the alien presence disturbing him so much that he stopped abruptly in his tracks despite the cyclops jostling behind him. This feeling... The smell... Everything about this felt strange to Nico, almost as though it were familiar in some way. But reversed and twisted to beyond the point of recognition. He frowned in annoyance, drowning out his surrounding as he focused on the feeling trying to place its origin, a dull tug in his gut forming from his intense concentration. Before he could debate any further a rough shove from his impatient guard brought him tumbling back to the present, the unknown mist still lurking around Nico in a muted display. He continued forward, ignoring the questioning and almost concerned glances cast his way by the demigod in front.

 _Yeah great Will,_ now _you look at me._ Nico rolled his eyes in annoyance before taking off again. He didn't want to risk ending up like Lou Ellen.

After what felt like a miles long trek (thanks to his ADHD brain), they were finally brought to a stumbling halt outside a dingy cell. A thrill of alarm rolled through Nico as he realised the only light source present was the celestial bronze of the grates, casting an eerie glow that didn't even reach the back of the small cell. The chains clanged to the floor in a messy pile as the cyclops unlocked them and shoved the group into the cell, dumping Lou Ellen onto Cecil from a considerable height. The two collapsed as the extra weight brought Cecil crumpling to the hard ground. Nico reached out to Cecil managing to save him from hitting the floor completely but still falling nonetheless. Cecil struggles to an upright position, shifting so that Lou's head is placed in his lap, a tender look on his face as he stares down at her, his usual gags and jokes deserting him. Nico really hoped that those two would get together.

A barely visible movement brings Nico's attention to the rear of the cell, where a figure sits slouched in the shadows of the wall. Drawing himself up from his crouching position beside Cecil, Nico takes a moment to decide what he should do. Ghostly features filled his mind as he remembered his sister's warning to him about his fatal flaw. Holding grudges was definitely a speciality of his, but he was determined for this stupid thing to come between such a new friendship. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for the coming conversation, trying to guide his emotions to a more reasonable level.

"Isn't moping in the shadows supposed to be my speciality?" Nico asks as he approaches Will's tense form. He raises his head from his knees to regard Nico with a neutral expression. Despite only knowing him closely for a short time, Nico had already managed to pick up on a few tell-tale signs in the son of Apollo. His eyes often betrayed his face and managed to portray his true feelings. Nico was glad that the earlier white lenses had been replaced with his normal cerulean irises, the brief change had unsettled Nico beyond belief. The last time he had seen someone's eye colour change had been Luke's which hadn't been a particularly brilliant experience. Will remained sitting in determined silence, leaving Nico no other option but to try again.

"Why didn't you tell me Will?" Nico whispered, noticing the cringe on Will's face as he recognised the hurt in Nico's tone. Clearly still struggling to open up, Will turns to face Nico fully, his eyes swimming in concern.

"I... I would have told you eventually... I just..." Will sighed sharply and threw his hands up in a sudden exclamation to the Gods.

"Oh to Hades, I'll just say it. I'm a light bender." He paused as though finding the phrase amusing before continuing in a raised voice.

"I'm destined to be some great, epic warrior. The first child of Apollo to have the ability in millenia, but I just can't help thinking that they must have... I don't know got the wrong guy somehow. Why would I -" Will abruptly broke off his tirade as Nico placed his hand on Will's still sloped back. Rubbing back and forth across the bumpy surface slowly, Nico hoped that the gesture was comforting in some way. Watching intently, Nico saw how Will seemed to melt into his touch, his corded muscles relaxing slightly at the contact. A small smile tugged at Nico's mouth as he noticed the role reversal between the two.

"You know who you're speaking to right?" Nico said with a glint of mirth.

"I took on the mantle of Ghost King at eleven." He admitted, his head tilted down slightly in embarrassment as he avoided seeing Will's reaction.

"I stole the title from Minos after banishing him to the underworld. I've lived with the burdens ever since. The responsibilities, the pressure that comes with a power like that... It takes some time to adjust to. But Will..." Nico paused to look straight into his mesmerising eyes, his sharp features keeping Nico's attention from straying.

"You're the most stupid, most stubborn, most idiotic person I've ever met. And that's saying something."

"Uh, not exactly helping death boy." Will muttered despite a smirk betraying his amusement.

"Not finished. You're also the most amazing, most honest, and most heroic person I've ever met." Nico's voice grew quieter as he reached the end of his speech. He found his eyes betraying him and trailing to focus on Will's lips, so close to his they were almost touching. Was the distance between them getting shorter? Nico didn't want to question anything at this point, his eyes almost closed as he leaned in.

Despite Aphrodite's best efforts, the fates obviously won out in this battle. A loud grunt filled cell as Lou Ellen finally woke, shocking Nico and Will so much they jumped apart as though electrocuted by Maimer. Nico cleared his throat slightly, trying his best to ignore the burning feeling on his cheeks and the wide-eyed, incredulous stare Will was giving him. What was happening to Nico's life?

"Ugh. No just a bit longer please." Lou Ellen muttered before proceeding to roll off Cecil's lap. The sudden drop jolted her awake and also caught the full attention of Will, as he stood to check Lou Ellen over. His hands automatically reaching for his med bag before obviously remembering how all of their possessions had been taken. Cecil hovered close by, his gaze fixed and eerily serious.

"How you feeling Lou?" Will questioned as he reached to feel her injury. Watching Will touching Lou Ellen so intimately brought an uneasy, almost bitter feeling in Nico's gut, making it hard for him to keep watching.

"Uhh, weirdly not that bad. I mean it stings, but nowhere near what it should." Will nodded slowly as he tore a strip of his t-shirt to hand to Lou to keep pressure on the wound to lessen any bleeding.

"Well, that would be because I healed you. Man you guys get hurt so much." Will sighed as he wearily sunk against the barred partition behind him. Lou Ellen eyed him warily before sitting up with little difficulty.

"How you holding up?" She questioned.

"Don't worry about me, I've gone through worse." He gave her a dark smile that made Nico feel uneasy. Did Will's powers drain him that much? Lou harrumphed as she turned to find Cecil inspecting his shoe laces closely.

"Sooo... Anyone gonna tell me what happened?" Cecil winced as he looked at the others for help.

"Ah not much." Cecil began.

"We were captured." Nico cut in. He couldn't be bothered with drawn out explanations, but the fall in Lou Ellen's features afterwords almost made him regret his bluntness.

"Oh. Well that's..." Lou Ellen trailed off as though distracted.

"Ok is this my concussion talking, or can you guys hear that?" Lou Ellen asked, seeming deeply alarmed by the prospect. For a drawn out moment, they all consider the possibility of Lou's potential madness, listening intently for anything that will prove otherwise. A sudden breath of wind brought a small melody to their ears, a soft feminine voice singing in what must have been Ancient Greek as Nico managed to pick out the odd word. The tune turned from praising someone, maybe a God? To pleading, begging, to the point where you didn't need to understand Ancient Greek to hear her urgency. Will crept towards the partitioning bars hesitantly, the glow lighting his face as though caught in a muted sunset.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

For a long time, the group stared into the neighbouring cell as the soft singing came to an abrupt stop. Shuffling filled the adjoining cell as the occupant scooted towards Will. The faint light provided a minimally detailed profile of the prisoner, her caramel hair escaping from a ruined braid. Almond shaped eyes eyeing the demigods warily as she analysed them. Nico couldn't help but feel a growing sense of anticipation, as though something major was about to happen but unsure of what exactly.

"Who are you?" Her voice echoed clearly, an unknown accent affecting her words slightly. Will glanced to the others questioningly, wondering if he should divulge their identities to the pretty lady/ potential monster. He sighed as though in defeat before turning back to face the woman.

"I'm Will Solace. This is Cecil Markowitz, Lou Ellen Blackstone and Nico di Angelo. We're on a-"

"Nico di Angelo?" She interrupted quickly, her eyes searching the cell for her target. Nico held his breath in anticipation before smothering his concerns and stepping forward to face the lady.

"That would be me." He muttered sarcastically.

"Oh praise the Gods. You do not know me, but I have been told much about you." Nico shuffled awkwardly on his feet, unsure how to answer.

"My name is Calypso. Please help me, my... well, my friend... he's injured." She strode off to a darkened corner of her cell, reaching to drag a limp form towards the bars. As she lowered the body to the floor before them they gasp in unison, frozen as they watch the scene. Nico unfreezes first, all of his earlier thoughts, theories and questions clicking into place. He managed to ask the question hanging on all of their tongues.

"Leo?"

 **AN: ... I warned you haha. Did you enjoy it? Hope you did :) I'm tempted to change the tag for this from Romance to Humour, I just seem to crack jokes all the time haha. But anyway please carry on supporting the story and I'll get back to you soon.**


	16. 16 - Will

**AN: Hey hey my dudes, hope life's good. Sorry for the cliff hanger haha. Thank you for reading following and the reviews :D they really make my day haha.**

Weirdo - **Haha yeah, in all honesty your last review gave me the metaphorical kick up the arse to polish off the chapter. Glad you enjoyed it and hope you enjoy the new chap :)**

Guest - **Haha sorry to do that to you! you'll find out shortly in the chap below :) Thank you for reviewing**

 **I'll get straight on with this so you don't have to wait anymore. Song of the chapter is The Spectre by Alan Walker chosen for obvious reasons. Hope you enjoy :) Ps slight warning for gorey descriptions in this chapter.**

 **Chapter 16 - A bit battered**

 **Will's POV**

"Woah Woah Woah! Rewind a sec!" Will shouted before remembering that they didn't really want to draw the guard's attention. Especially not the creepy, hairy cyclops lumbering around down the corridor. He looked mean. Or was it a she? Will shook his head in an attempt to refocus on the very real situation in front of him.

"So your name's Calypso?" Will asked, receiving an incredulous stare from the titaness.

"Yes." She stated in a way that made Will feel as though his every action were being scrutinised.

"And you know Leo how?" Will asked, beginning to grow uneasy as he fiddled with his belt loops on his jeans. He desperately wanted to believe that the shaded figure laying on the floor was in fact Leo (because no matter how injured he was, he would still be alive), but he knew deep down that the world was cruel. The fates could play some nasty tricks and Will was not about to fall for one of them. He could feel eyes boring into the back of his head and he turned to shoot Nico a placating look, Trust me.

"Well, he crashed onto my island, smashed my table -"

"Smashed your table? Awesome how did he do that?" Cecil rubbed his knuckles in admiration.

"He - No, that doesn't matter! Please, can you help him? I've done the best I can with my healing magic but it doesn't seem to be doing much." Will could have sworn he heard her mutter 'Stupid curse' under her breath. Giving one last early glance towards the surrounding area and cell, he bent down next to the bars to take his first proper look at the fallen demigod. If this was a trap, then he would just have to face the consequences. He wasn't going to stand by while his friend suffered.

After first establishing that he was breathing in a stable manner, he begun to tally the injuries as he analysed the body, holding his breath tightly as he went, diaphragm frozen in place.

"What happened to you guys?" Will muttered softly as he lifted Leo's awkwardly bent arm gingerly, eliciting a grunt from the unconscious Latino.

"We... We were flying on a metal beast -" Cecil gasped suddenly interrupting Calypso's story.

"Festus is alive?!" Lou Ellen punched Cecil's arm harshly, knocking him to the ground of the cell with a surprised shriek.

"Carry on." Lou Ellen gestured with her hands in a rolling fashion. Calypso regarded the group with a look of confusion and Will could imagine her thinking 'What on Earth has the world come to?'. Blinking a few times, she resumed her neutral expression quickly and instead focused on Will's hands, trailing Leo's legs to check for fractures or cuts before moving on to his chest to check for haemorrhaging. The last would be especially difficult to deal with in this situation, if only he had his med-kit. He had virtually everything in there he could ever need, thanks to a space enchantment from Lou Ellen.

"The machine wasn't in best condition, and we soon crashed. We were making our way to Camp Half blood but were intercepted at the crash site and brought here by a group of Venti. Much of what you see with Leo has happened after the crash at the hands of these -" She couldn't seem to finish her sentence as she trained her attention solely on Leo's prone form.

Sighing heavily, Will rocked back on his feet, wiping his brow in anguish at the demigod's pain. He had seen worse dead bodies. Calypso regarded him with concern deeply etched in her eyes despite her face's neutral demeanour.

"It's not good. He has a fractured Tibia in his right leg, with a comminuted fracture judging by the angle of the break. His left Radius -" he gestured to the left arm above a blood stain.

"- has an open compound fracture, which means a higher risk of infection. He has four broken ribs, one of which has pierced one of his internal organs causing haemorrhaging in the peritoneal cavity shown by this swelling and -" he rolled up the tattered,once orange camp Half-blood to reveal a mottled surface.

"- discolouration." Will was sure he heard gagging behind him but continued his analysis anyway.

"I'm not sure about this one, but he may also have a minor concussion. The only way I can get a slight indication would be to..." Will bit his lip in concentration, before alighting on a solution. How could he have been so stupid? He extended his index finger towards Leo's face, willing the tip to conduct his powers gently. He only wanted light, not to blind Leo as well. Calypso opened Leo's eyelids as Will observed the demigod's pupils carefully, she obviously had experience with this kind of thing.

"Only a slight difference in pupil size, so only a minor concussion I would say." He sighed again as he sank to the floor, the light in his finger abruptly shutting off. He was vaguely aware of a shuffling behind him and turned to see Nico edging forwards to sit next to Will, only sightly behind his form to give him space. Knowing that a friendly presence was so close gave Will the strength to continue.

"So all in all, he's a bit battered." Calypso raised an incredulous eyebrow as she scoffed. A slight smirk pulled at her lips despite the severity of the situation.

"A bit?" Nico questioned sarcastically.

"Ok a lot. But I can heal him, I think. Although I think it would be much better if we worked together on this." He looked pointedly to Calypso, showing a small smile of plea.

"You honestly thought I'd let you heal him alone?" She sassily remarked. Will could see how she and Leo got on.

"Ok so first things first, we need to set the fractures." He turned to address the others behind him. Cecil's confused face stared back at him.

"Uh, I thought you said you were going to heal him..." He trailed off as Will rolled his eyes at Cecil.

"We still need to set it Cec. If we heal it now then the bones remain at the angles they are now but fused together. Which not only comprises the function, but would mean that they look really weird." Will tried to ignore the images flashing through his head as he imagined that.

After a brief hunt around their cells, between them they managed to collect a few barely intact long Femur bones (Will tried not to think about where they'd come from) that they could use for splints. Although they were still lacking in finding something to tie the splints with.

"Is there really nothing vaguely string like laying around?" Will couldn't believe their luck. Actually no, he could, luck didn't exist for demigods.  
The group shook their heads solemnly, already having discussed the strength of strips of clothing, shoelaces and strands of Lou Ellen's hair (volunteered by Cecil). Maybe spurred on by the potential loss of her hair, Lou Ellen suddenly came a realisation, her mouth opening almost comically as she considered the idea. Raising his eyebrows, Will hoped to elicit a response from her troubled thoughts.

"So I know that we've already ruled this out, but hear me out." She proceeded to rip a large length of denim from the hem of her jeans, discarding the soiled bottom before ripping a cleaner strip off.

"Denim's pretty strong right? Plus I can do..." She extended her hand towards the strip tentatively, almost as if unsure of her actions. A faint purple glow enshrouded the cloth, the mist clinging to the cloth in a loose layer.  
"...This." After the glow had settled to a dull light and she had attempted to stretch the material (with no luck), she brandished the material to Will proudly.  
"Couldn't you have just used your voodoo shtick to magic up a rope?" Cecil questioned, earning him a lethal glare from Lou Ellen.

"You better shut up right now Dora. I can't just create something! Learn some science, you can only convert, transfer or in my case, transform energy. I need something vaguely rope-like before I can even consider imbuing it with the properties of a rope." Cecil sat still for a second, his mouth slightly open as he attempted to grasp the subject. Rolling his eyes at his friend, Will remembered how he had learnt that law at the age of 7 much to his teacher's chagrin. Returning his attention to the present, Will looked down to the injured demigod sprawled in front of him, the usually tan complexion long gone and replaced by an almost ghostly appearance. He was so different from the friend Will once knew, he would have denied Calyspo's claims if not for the unruly curly hair streaked with engine oil framing the pale face.

"Whatever we do, we need to hurry. He's loosing blood fast." Will didn't even want to look down at Leo's abdomen to confirm his suspicions, he must have ruptured his spleen judging by the blood flow. The others passed Lou Ellen torn pieces of fabric to enchant before passing them on to Will. Nico came to sit beside Will, kneeling on the floor to elevate his position slightly. He was ready to help if he could. A strange expression settled on Nico's usually stoney face, his usually barriers forgotten in this emergency situation. He looked guilty and almost as if he were mourning. Will steeled himself. No, there would be no mourning today.

"Right, we need to work fast and efficiently guys and I'm gonna need all of your help. We're going to have to work through the bars, so we'll start with his leg and then we'll have to turn him so I can reach his arm. But..."

"We'll have to heal him immediately after that." Calypso finished, her expression grim but final. She knew what needed to happen.

"Ok guys get ready, hold the splints and ties ready for me and pass them when I hold out my hand, Calypso be on standby, and Nico." Will turned to face the son of Hades, his slightly glazed eyes snapping out of their reverie as he gave Will an intense look that almost made him forget where he was. Almost.

"I need your help, your gonna have to use those muscles of yours to help me straighten the bones. I'm not confident doing this in such weird confines so I'm gonna need you to assist me." Although slightly shocked by the role, Nico bit his lip and took of his leather jacket, chucking it in a heap behind him exposing his pale arms.

"Ok, but I'm no nurse Solace, I don't really know what I'm doing."

"I'm perfectly aware you're not a nurse." Will muttered as he tore Leo's already wrecked jeans leg, exposing the break site and leaving enough room for the splint.

"But we're gonna have to make do. Anyway, I'll guide you so you have nothing to worry about." Flashing a blinding smile he turned to instruct Lou and Cecil to ready the splints before taking a deep breath. He needed to act.

"Let's do this." He muttered before positioning his hand above the base of the breakage, Nico copying his actions with the proximal area of the break. They were lucky the break was in the middle of the bone, the other areas would have been impossible to set in these conditions.

"So his leg shouldn't need too much setting as the Tibia's more or less shattered anyway. There's not a lot to line up in there. But we still need to attempt to get a natural angle before splinting the leg. So Deathboy you're gonna keep that area as straight as you can for me, try not to get affected by my jostling." Nico nodded in affirmation before shadowing Will's actions of gripping the leg (causing Leo to groan very loudly in his unconscious state). Calypso hushed Leo, stroking his face gently to attempt to calm him whispering soft words that none of the others could hear.

"We all ready?" Will asked. He caught the others nodding in his peripheral and with a brief nod to Nico straightened the leg with a sickening crunch, pulling the leg down before twisting to the correct angle eliciting a gruesome howl from Leo.

"I know sorry man, nearly there. We'll sort you out in a mo." Will muttered as he strapped the offered splint in place rapidly, his actions practised and perfected over years of experience.

"Ok we're gonna have to all turn him now and work really quickly on his arm, Nico same again with this." After a vaguely successful rotation, Leo's arm was in front of Will. Gripping his hand and wrist, with Nico doing the same further up, he pulled the joint as far as he could, ignoring the cries and shouts of the demigod and the gagging behind him. Eventually the exposed bone was back in its proper place and haphazardly splinted in his haste.

"Ok Calypso we're up." She gave him a nod before singing a melancholy song so beautiful Will almost forgot to join in. Shaking his head slightly he began his own song, praying to his father to assist, his powers flowing freely as he lay his hands directly on Leo. Searing light soon fills the cell as Will's powers flare up, the light making Leo glow eeirly red from within reminding Will of when he had held a torch against his hand once, seeing the red spotlight on the opposite surface. Will's voice moulded perfectly with Calypso's, their ancient songs harmonising and phasing in and out with another as the song progressed. As the song continued, Leo's complexion darkened slowly as his blood returned to it's normal routes, his internal bleeding obviously having been healed. The once heavy and laboured breaths coming easier and easier as time progressed. They finally reached the climax of their song, before collapsing back to the harsh floor beneath them in heaps. Will was immediately swamped with a pair of hands reaching behind his back, hoisting his weak and numb body into a sitting position, leaning heavily on the body next to him. Will felt his eyes starting to close as the heaviness of exhaustion swamped his body, the muted surroundings and noises muting as his body shut down to rest. Ignoring the shouts of his questmates, his eyes shut fully.

Wait, shouts?

Will forced his eyes open stubbornly, blinking stubbornly to rid the stars from his vision. He was hunched over, somehow leaning on Nico's much smaller shoulder as he watched the scene in awe. Leo Valdez was sitting bolt upright in front of them, not a scratch on him.

"Cally what you doing sitting down? We've got to get going! Festus is down! We need to find him, get to camp and find the others, we need to warn them!" Finally turning away from the disgruntled and shocked titaness he noticed the other demigods with a slight recoil of shock.

"Uh hi. Scratch finding the others." He muttered, turning to Calypso in confusion. Relived at his friend's apparent recovery, Will smiled brightly, happy with his work.

"You, Mr, have a lot of explaining to do."

 **AN: Well that got a bit serious haha. Sorry for the wait I would have finished this off earlier but I've been staying at a hostel at a zoo this past week with crap WiFi (although it was worth it for the zoo though :D) So yeah, but thank you for reading and I'll be back soon!**


	17. 17 - Nico

**AN: Hola dudes, hope life's good down your end. I'm back at uni now but I'm gonna try to keep updating as much as I can for you. I shouldn't really need to say this at this point, but mega shit about to hit the fan soon. The big enemy will be announced... shortly.**

 **Thank you so much for all the support so far everybody, you have no idea how much it means to me :)**

 **Special thanks to** Guest, **I'm glad you're enjoying it! And** Hullanta, **thank you so much :) I'm glad you're still enjoying it!**

 **Without further ado, here's chapter 17, plus song of the chap is In the Shadows by The Rasmus because the lyrics fit spookily well.**

 **Chapter 17 - Will's plans suck**

 **Nico's POV**

Nico knew that he should probably be feeling some kind of positive emotion at the moment. Maybe happiness, relief, excitement, or all three of those combined. No doubt any other person in his situation would be sobbing at this point, overcome by the sudden appearance of a long lost friend. But of course, this was Nico. Things were always backwards with him. No, instead of those emotions primarily thought of experiencing in a reunion with a long lost, previously thought dead friend, Nico could only feel a suffocating, disgusting amount of guilt lingering in his bones. How could he have been so stupid? He had been given so many clues that Leo had been brought back from the underworld, he had just been too dumb to understand them. The unusual experience of his supposed death, the weird dream in the sky that Nico had chalked up to his declining mental state, the strange feeling in the air around him he had felt only hours ago. He had been so put out by the reversed familiarity of the feeling and only now did he understand what it was. His powers were struggling to accept the dead/ definitely not dead presence in the room and they were throwing his senses out by miles.

Bile rose up his throat as Nico shuddered almost imperceptibly, his teeth chattering briefly before being clamped shut hard. If only he had worked this out sooner, he could have helped Leo and Calypso. Maybe they never would have been in this situation if he had found them. Hades, if Nico hadn't let the Onager go in the first place they definitely wouldn't have been in this situation.

A sharp warmth sapped the ice from his muscles, his subtle shivers stuttering out as the fire spread through his body in an alien, but definitely not unpleasant way. Nico had completely forgotten that Will's head was resting on his shoulder, the pose being surprisingly comfortable, but the short adjustment of the blonde's posture had brought Nico back to the cell in a flash. Thoughts raced through his brain as though they were attempting to imitate Cerberus with his favourite ball, adrenaline flooding him as Will slowly roused from his half conscious state. Stretching his shoulders like a lazy cat, he slowly opened his eyes and took in the situation.

Nico wasn't exactly sure what happened in this time period, his surroundings muted as his usually suppressed emotions swamped him with full force. He was only vaguely brought out of his stupor by Will's abrupt comment cutting through the loud fog of shouts.

"You, Mr, have a lot of explaining to do."

"So... you're not dead then?" Cecil started, a critical eyebrow raise earning him a painful sounding whack from Lou Ellen. Calypso stared incredulously at Will and Nico.

"Are they always like this?" Will and Nico exchanged a brief glance filled with humour despite the serious state they found themselves in. Smirking they both turned to face Calypso, their mirth at their compatriots barely contained.

"What, violent? Yeah pretty much."

"We're right here man!"

"Yeah whatever. Cecil does have a good point though, didn't we see you... well, you know... explode?" Nico trailed off, his lip curling slightly at the corner in confusion. Will shot him a chastising glare for being so blunt, but Nico decided to ignore him. Dodging the question would get them nowhere.

Leo slumped in a very un-Leo like pose, his usually fidgetting hands eerily still as his head drooped.

"Uh, yeah about that. So remember how before all the drama with Gaia went down we went to get this magical potion?"

Nico nodded his head minutely, ignoring the others shaking heads. The shuffling on his right shoulder brought his attention to it in a snap, his ADHD firing up briefly as the unknown presence jumped his adrenaline levels. Blonde curls dangled across his vision as he looked across the slumped figure still leaning on him. Warmth radiated from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers, making him wonder how he had ever been cold in his life.

A loud throat clearing brought Nico's attention back to the demigod in front of him, now leaning slightly against the bars as he stared at Nico almost questioningly. Nico immediately narrowed his eyes in a menacing glare that put the furies to shame, although he doubted the expression was anywhere near as intimidating as he wanted it to be due to his flaming red cheeks. _Damn you Solace._

"What, you need my constant eye contact to speak?" Leo shuffled clearly uncomfortable before appearing to pause, before chuckling loudly. The guilt and remorse that had been eating Nico previously melted instantly as his friend's laughter filled his core. Leo was alive.

"Gods I've missed you guys." He turned to give Calypso a grin, as though saying ' _How great are they?_ ', before continuing with more enthusiasm.

"So yeah, I stole that from Pipes. Then I got to work on Festus. This was after you left so I'll give a brief story of what happened while you were off gallivanting."

"Excuse me?" Laughing once again at Nico's murderous expression, he continued.

"While everyone was off on special missions and all that kind of exciting stuff, I holed myself up in the walls of the Argo II. Not literally obviously, that would be slightly claustrophobic. Little did the others know that I was rebuilding Festus from scratch right underneath their very noses!" He finished with a flourish, excited by his devious work.

"Then when the Argo crashed, Festus was reborn. Rising from the ashes just like the legends foretold!" Lou Ellen pursed her mouth, frowning in confusion.

"Ummm, pretty sure that's about a Phoenix Leo."

"Yeah I know. Just thought it'd be better with Festus." Leo sassed, his cheeky grin instantly making the others laugh.

"Festus makes everything cooler." Cecil agreed. Leo admired the slightly younger teen with respect.

"I like you already."

"But we've met before." Cecil muttered quietly as Leo puffed out his cheeks in thought.

"Oh, uhhh-"

"So, let me get this straight." Nico started, his lip almost curling at his unintentional pun. At least the others wouldn't get it.

"You stole the physician's cure from your best friend, who was supposed to guard the potion and administer it to whoever in the Seven died." Leo shuffled awkwardly, readying to back up his actions before Nico cut him off.

"Whilst building a metal dragon without any of them knowing. I'm impressed Valdez. plotting your own death is a tricky business." Will sharply turned to face Nico from his shoulder, apparently not quite fully recovered yet to sit up.

"Calm it Sunshine, I meant as in I've encountered a few stories from my time spent amongst the dead. Not from personal experience." Nico chuckled slightly at his panic before recoiling in shock as Will punched him surprisingly hard in the arm.

"Don't scare me like that." He glared up at Nico with those gorgeous eyes in an attempt to be threatening. His earlier shock at the abrupt attack dissolved as Nico merely smiled and nodded.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Nico was flashed into a memory mere minutes ago of him and Will, there lips inches apart as they drew closer. He jerked away from looking at the Son of Apollo, refocusing his gaze on Leo and desperately trying to ignore the confusion raging inside of him. This couldn't be happening, not now.

"But... What if something had gone wrong? Leo you could have died. I never would have seen you again. " Calypso's voice broke off in a sudden sob and Nico found his eyes widening in shock. He didn't think he'd ever seen a titan cry before.

"I know, I'm so sorry Cal. I just... I had to. I couldn't let any of the others -, I could't bear it if anything had happened to them. Even Frank." He laughed loudly at this, his mirth even causing Nico to smirk.

"No seriously, I knew it had to be me. I had to do this to save everyone, including you Missy. How does your island work?" He pointed a finger at her. Nico pretended to ignore the tears welling in Leo's eyes. Calypso's eyes widened in shock and understanding, her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the cell.

"No man finds Ogigia twice, in his lifetime." She finished slowly as tears ran free down her face. Leo sniffled sharply, wiping his face with his arms and managing to somehow add to the engine grease on his face.

"Oh Leo." She laughed shakily.

"Hey, we've been over this. It's either Hot stuff, or Ex Supreme commander of the Argo II to you. Besides, I've always wanted to die heroically. Just needed a good excuse." The group erupted in unconstrained laughter, the relief for their friend filling the room.

"So you did die then?" Nico questioned quietly, his heart sinking in his chest. That explained a lot of things.

"Well yeah, sort of." A shuffling on his shoulder told Nico that Will was readjusting, maybe he was feeling better now, although Nico wasn't sure how he felt about potentially loosing his personal radiator.

"I've only ever heard myths about things like this." Will muttered slowly, sounding almost afraid.

"You're gonna have to get checked out properly as soon as possible. We have no idea what kind of damage that potion did to you. You need to get back to camp, soon." The seriousness in Will's tone dampened the earlier light-hearted feel of the situation. Panic flashed across Leos face.

"But, I mean, what could go wrong, it's already brought me back from the dead."

"That's what I'm worried about. You need to get straight back to camp as soon as we get out of here." Now that Will had mentioned it, Nico noticed that the aura from Leo was strangely wobbling, as though being blown in the wind.

"He's right Leo, you need to get checked out by Chiron. Hopefully he can help." Leo's shoulders slumped in submission, a sad smirk ghosting his face.

"Wow. You said Leo, not Valdez. You must be serious. Ok, as soon as we get out we'll head to camp." Calypso reached forward and squeezed his shoulder in a way that made Nico definitely question her earlier label of 'friends'.

"At least you get to show me your home." She smiled warmly in an attempt to cheer Leo up, succeeding marginally.

"Now you guys have finished with that, shall we get out of here?" Cecil said excitably, brandishing a bent paperclip a spike earring and a slightly ajar cell door. He had managed to pick the lock with none of them noticing.

"Cec. You're amazing." Lou Ellen shouted before jumping to her feet.

"Wait is that my earring?"

"So what, you have like 10 other still in your ear."

Will abruptly stood up from his leaning position, making all of the demigods start in alarm.

"Ok, so you're probably gonna think I'm mad, which is possible, but we can't leave yet." Nico froze as whisper shouting flared up around him in a desperate attempt to not draw the guards attention. He was not expecting that.

"Yeah I know guys, but please trust me. I have a plan."

 **AN: Sooooo... I'm just gonna leave that dangling there for now... Next chapter will have some drama, along with the long awaited (ish) escape! Hope you enjoyed the chap, sorry for the delay and thanks again for reading :) Hope you all have fab weeks!**


	18. 18 - Will

**AN: Hola chicas!! (Or however it's spelt lol) anyway I'm back again! Thanks for sticking with me so far and I hope you enjoy the chap :) Special thanks to everyone who's favourited and to my lovely reviews from Hullanta and Imaginative geek (more cuteness is in store for these guys).**

 **I've split the chap in half because I felt like having a semi short chapter soon is better than having a mega chapter later. So here's chapter 18 part 1! Song of the chapter is These silent hearts by Armin Van Buuren (what a guy).**

 **Chapter 18 - The not so great escape**

 **Will's POV**

This definitely had to be in the demigod records for 'Worst quest ever'. Will honestly had no clue how they had managed to avoid grizzly deaths so far. His half formed and half idiotic plan would definitely rectify that situation soon. But, as much as he disliked it, his plan was the only way to get anywhere on this quest. Will decided he should probably act vaguely leader-like and end the chaotic whispers filling the cells (mostly comprised of shouts of "Solace you better be joking", "are you insane" and "I really want some cheetos"). Ignoring the last comment, no doubt from Cecil, he gave a loud, staccato "Shhh" that put many primary school teachers to shame.

"Ok guys, hear me out. So obviously we'll escape here soon, but we need to be logical about this. If we barge out right now what's gonna happen?" Will strongly suspected he was transforming into a teacher. Cecil raised his hand tentatively resulting in an eye roll from Nico that probably shook the foundations of the underworld.

"We die?"

"Well, yeah probably. Or get caught again. Either way it's not ideal." Leo shuddered dramatically, his face pulling into a grimace.

"Ugh, no thanks. I doubt that even I could miraculously come back to life a second time." Calypso rolled her eyes this time, shaking her head lightly in amusement.

"How modest."

"Thanks Babe." He flashed her his trademark troublemaker grin eliciting a swat on the arm from her, before looking back to Will as though nothing had happened.

"Uh... Right, so we need to have a plan."

"I thought you said you had a plan." Nico questioned sceptically, his eyes narrowed in threat. Man, Will could not take him seriously at all.

"Uh, not exactly. I just said that to get your attention before we all went traipsing outside to get stabbed to death."

"Lovely." Lou Ellen muttered. Will was freaked out that he couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Before he could elaborate on his point anymore, a loud clang at the door made the demigods jump in unison. A cyclops at least 3 metres tall towered over the cell door, its features hidden in the darkness of the cell. Jingling filled the cramped room as the cyclops fiddled with a hatch on the door (thankfully not quite understanding the way the door swung backwards slightly when he rattled the hatch open, maybe luck did exist for demigods).

With a grunt, a child's plastic plate with Simba, Timone and Pumba in the centre and a severely mouldy piece of bread was shoved forcefully into the cell, the food falling straight onto the floor as soon as the plate left the hatch.

"Geez thanks." Cecil muttered glumly, eyeing the loaf with despair. Deep rumbling echoed through the corridor which Will first mistook for thunder. A few seconds later Will worked out that it was the Cyclops' laughter.

"You'll need all the strength you can get. Pretty boys, Khione wants to meet you soon." After a similarly delicious meal was delivered to Leo and Calypso, silence enveloped the rooms. The only sounds the clumsy footfalls of the Cyclops ricocheting off the old corridors.

"Well that wasn't ominous." Nico muttered glumly, his hair hanging dejectedly across his face as though it could sense Nico's feelings. The others grunted in agreement before settling into eery silence once more.

"Wonder who he was referring to as pretty boys. There's a lot of boys here, could be -"

"It's Nico and Will, obviously Cec." Lou Ellen deadpanned before shooting Will a slightly off putting wink.

"You traitor." Cecil harrumphed before sitting to sulk in the corner. Will decided this was probably a good point to intervene if he wanted to avoid healing anyone in the near future.

"Ok guys, new plan -"

"There was no plan to start with!" Nico sassed before sneering in annoyance. The persistent twisting of his skull ring gave Will a small insight into his inner turmoil. Gods knew what was causing it though. Well apart from the fact that they were in prison. And that they were about to be taken for questioning. But apart from that, Will didn't know what his problem was.

"Well we've got one now. Anyway, so me and Nico -"

"Nico and I." Lou Ellen corrected. Frustration built up inside Will to the point where light began to slowly ebb from his fingertips.

"Grammar doesn't matter. You know what does? Living and getting this quest finished. So me and Nico are gonna go to this meeting with Khione and try to find out as much info as possible, while you guys are gonna escape. The guards will be distracted when we leave the cell, so hopefully you can get away without being noticed. If not, Cec you know what to do." Cecil bounced up and down excitedly like a toddler that had raided the hidden skittles.

"But you said I should never steal." He sat with his mouth agape in a comical fashion, his hand covering his mouth dramatically. With a small reluctant laugh, Will continued.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures Cec. You guys need to find all our weapons -" Leo opened his mouth as though hoping to interject. Will quickly cut him off.

"Yes and Festus, then you need to come and rescue us from whatever freaky torture chamber we're taken to." A slight shuffling brought Will's attention to a hunched and rapidly paling form close to him. Nico sat as a husk of his usual sarcastic, yet surprisingly lovable character, as though reliving a terrifying memory. Will made a note to check with him after their discussion.

"That cool with everyone?" Will looked around the group of unlikely heroes scattered around him. The only seasoned quester among them being Leo, and he was dead a week ago so their team was looking interesting at the moment.

Heads nodded slowly in syncopation, various states of stress on their faces as they considered their situations.

"Right, let's do this sh-"

"Language!" Nico interrupted grumpily, picking the underside of his nails.

"Seriously? You're pulling a captain America?" Nico stared up blankly at him as the others laughed (ignoring the absurd look from Calypso which sent Leo into hysterics). Nico remained in his hunched position not even smirking like he normally would at Will's stupid jokes. Something twisted deep inside Will as he saw the demigod folded into half the person he normally was. Familiarity gripped him as he realised he was experiencing what he felt with his powers when healing people, only this time he felt the emotions of the other radiating as though they were a beacon. Will briefly wondered whether he was developing a new power before deciding that he didn't care and shuffling to sit next to Nico, the hushed chatter of the others covering his approach.

"What's up ghosty?" His Levator angulis superioris twitched slightly, raising his mouth marginally into what could maybe be called a smirk (if you had a magnifying glass).

"I thought you'd forgotten that one."

"Wha? Me forget a perfectly good nickname? Never. Now tell me what's wrong before I hit you again." Nico rubbed his arm slowly as he remembered his earlier assault.

"Lou Ellen's rubbing off on you." He muttered as he lifted his gaze to find Will's. Those eyes hypnotised Will whenever he saw them, the haunting brown drawing you in until you finally found small specks of amber at the very depths. Nico smirked again, shuffling so that he was less closed off to Will.

"So, in my angsty teenage years I trudged around on my own a lot. Avoiding trouble, then finding it anyway because monsters are turds." Will started indignantly at that.

"Hey how come you get to swear?"

"Coz I'm older than you." He sassed, leaving Will deeply confused, wasn't Nico's birthday in January?

"Anyway, so I was captured a few times by Kronos's creeps, thinking I would give them information about camp half blood. Obviously I didn't, but... They still tried to get me to...by, well..." He trailed off and twisted his skull ring in agitation as he avoided Will's attention.

"I've never told anyone about that part of my life before." Nico looked up almost scared to find Will's face. Will was really unsettled by this, his eyebrows creasing deeply as he quickly drew Nico in to a smothering hug.

"Oh Neeks. What are we gonna do with you?" He muttered sadly, squeezing the very stiff form in his arms. As his surprise apparently faded, Nico relaxed into Will's embrace and snuggled his head under Will's neck. A stampede of emotions flooded Will's chest as he tightened the hug. Nico's muffled voice filtered up from his hiding place as he continued his story, feeling too safe to move.

"And then there was... Tartarus... The jar. You know the rest. But yeah torture isn't my favourite word to be honest." Will looked down to find the very subtly shaking form of the son of Hades in his arms. Feeling he had to display his sympathy in some way, he resorted to moving one of his arms to Nico's head, slowly carding his fingers through his long hair, the smoothness relaxing Will as well as he did so. How the Hades did he keep it so untangled on the quest? Will seriously needed to ask.

"Don't worry death boy. I'll be here with you this time, we'll get through this together. Team Solangelo." He said in a hushed tones, smiling softly down at the small bundle in his lap. Nico shifted slightly to look at Will quizzically a smile tugging at his mouth despite the situation.

"What's Solangelo?"

"I'm not sure. I heard Lou and Dec mention it earlier. Let's just go with it."

Nico settled into Will's chest more, almost purring slightly as he leant fully against Will's muscled torso, shifting so that he could sit between Will's legs. They must have looked ridiculous, but in that moment Will honestly couldn't have cared less. He was content, so was Nico and that was all that mattered.

 **AN: Thought I'd give you a nice cosy ending instead of a dramatic one haha. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and see you soon for the more dramatic part two :D**


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